Cell Shift
by The Emerald Ingot
Summary: Kyuubi hated weakness. His goal, his dream was to be the strongest. Nothing was going to stop him. Nothing else mattered. He would be strong. Even if it meant helping a human. Kyuubi forced his bloodline on a 7 year old Naruto, concequences be damned.
1. Chapter 1

_Is there anybody out there who_

_Is lost and hurt and lonely too_

_Are they bleeding all your colors into one?_

_Square One_

_By Coldplay_

He hated weakness. The inability to protect yourself and what is dear to you. Yes, that is what he hated. Kyuubi no Kitsune loathed the weak; he loathed those who could not defend themselves. So he decided he would never be one of them.

He achieved his goal. The first Nine Tailed Fox, the strongest of the Tailed Demons. He was power incarnate. So powerful was he that he was no longer considered an entity. No, he was considered a natural disaster. In other words, something that could not be stopped. Strange as it seemed, he was stopped. By a human. How could it be that he, the strongest being in existence, other than the gods themselves, was defeated by a mere mortal human? How could it be that this human had summoned a god? The god of Death to be precise. To top it all off, he wasn't even killed. No, they couldn't just end his existence. That human had to seal him into a human, a _child._ The weakest of the weak! Never before had things looked so grim for the fox. All his work, wasted because he found one person stronger than he was, and now all he could do is spend the rest of this mortal's life sealed in it's stomach, to live out its days stuck behind an unbreakable cage until the Death God finally claimed him as its own.

For seven long years, Kyuubi wallowed in self pity. Seven years of self torment and abasement. Seven years of reflecting on what he could have done differently. Seven years of planning. And now, those plans were coming to fruition. It was time that he bestowed his own personal bloodline to a new family. His vessel would not be weak. Kyuubi would not be seen as weak. And, as the strongest non-divine being in existence, his container would have to be the strongest human to have ever existed, just so that it won't reflect badly on his own image.

Kyuubi no Kitsune was obsessed with being the strongest. And he would do anything he could to get there. Even if it meant helping a _human_ of all things, and now that the time was right, he could finally start his quest over again, his quest to become the best.

Red chakra seeped out of the cage. Its luminescent red light reflected up to the fox's visage. He was grinning.

* * *

"Shit! He's going into cardiac arrest! Start the defibrillating jutsu!"

Medic nin rushed around the ER room. A bloody bundle, barely recognizable as human, lay on the hospital bed in the middle of the frenzied operation preparation.

"Get me 10cc of adrenaline and another 10 of morphine. Oh, shit! He's awake! Put a sleep jutsu on him, quickly!"

The cloudy blue eyes that were trying to look around the room slowly drooped closed. The door to the ER burst open.

"Hokage-sama! What are y-"

"What happened!"

"Sir!" An ANBU stepped up to the Hokage. "I found him in sector 9 during my patrol. All assailants were detained. The rest of my squad are taking care of loose ends, and I rushed him here."

The Hokage's eyes narrowed in anger, but not directed towards the ANBU. "Get back to your squad and help them with the attackers. Send them straight to Ibiki. Tell him he has unrestricted access to any method he feels appropriate."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." A puff of smoke signaled his departure. The old man moved to the side, clearing up space for the doctors and nurses to work. A nurse brought him a chair and he sat with a weary sigh.

A massive chakra spike set him on edge. He stood up quickly, but before he could even take a step, a veritable flood of red chakra burst from the unconscious boy's body. It pulsed and the medic nin surrounding the operation table were thrust away, only to have tendrils of red chakra grab them out of mid air and set them gently on the ground. The Hokage paused for a minute, surprised. It was just long enough for a red dome to form around the boy, almost five feet across, blocking any attempt to reach the boy. And attempt, he did.

Hokage uselessly pounded on the chakra barrier. His frantic attempts stirred the medic nin in the room into helping him, but even their entire combined efforts couldn't break the barrier.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

The inhuman cry rang through the room, making each one wince. The boy's body started twitching, then convulsing. The shrieking stopped, only to be replaced by a gurgling that unmistakably came from the boy.

Everyone stopped what they were doing to see the next development. The boy's skin _literally_ melted off. The seemingly gelatinous mass slowly dripped off the table onto the ER floor, while the exposed muscles underneath slowly started breaking down. Snaps and cracks rebounded, evidence that the boy's bones were breaking because of the convulsions. Then, quite suddenly, the muscles started re-arranging themselves. They knotted, relaxed, bunched, and lengthened. A wiry muscular structure replaced the boy's previous muscles, attaching themselves to an altered skeletal structure. Blood vessels re appeared, and the boy's internal organs moved. An amniotic sac-like structure formed over the boy, twitching here and there. After a few seconds, it ripped open and melted, joining the boy's old skin on the floor. New, soft, pink skin covered rippling muscles.

The barrier collapsed in on itself, spiraling around and around, back into the boy's stomach. Sunny blonde hair, as wild an unkempt as ever, waved in the breeze made by the chakra's passage. The Hokage was about to rush to the boy's side, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. One of the doctors was stopping him.

"Hokage-sama, I understand your affection for the boy, but we have to check him first. We don't know what the f…" A glare from the Hokage made him hesitate. "his tenant did."

"Very well." He sighed.

Medic nin were using scanning jutsu to assess the changes the boy underwent. One by one, the jutsu shut down.

"Assessment?"

"Sir!" One of the medic nin spoke up. "The youkai altered his DNA and changed a lot of his physical body. His bone structure is mostly the same, as you can see he's still shaped like a human. The strange part is that the bones were hollowed out some, allowing nearly twice the amount of bone marrow to exist, drastically increasing the rate at which he produces blood. But, to compensate for a thinner crust, the bone has an internal structure that looks like it should redirect any blunt force to a joint, to be absorbed by the flesh. The actual bone matter is much denser as well. He'll most likely never suffer a severe broken bone from this point on."

Another nin continued. "His muscular structure is completely rebuilt. Fascinating, really. The ligaments are stronger, and the muscle is much more dense, but still extremely wiry and flexible. Most of his joints seem double jointed. He'll have incredible flexibility if he continually stretches. These muscles are far superior to anything that a normal human had, even with years of training and conditioning. Well, for his age at least. He'll need half the exercise a regular person would to gain the same benefits. On top of that, the capillary structure through the bones is much more complex. He'll have godly endurance. The vessels will be able to provide much more oxygen to the muscle as well as take away waste faster, keeping the muscle stronger for longer. Incredible…"

Yet again, a third nin stepped up. "Hokage-sama, the nervous system is basically the same, except that there are double the amount of information senders/receptors. Basically, messages are sent faster, and with more information in a single 'pulse' of chemicals. Absolutely incredible. It appears that there are about double the amount of neurons in the brain. By all accounts, this boy should be able to learn at nearly four times the rate of other children."

The Hokage sat down. "Is there anything else to cover?"

No one spoke.

"Thank you, doctors. Do you see any potential problems in the future?"

They unanimously shook their heads.

"Good. Thank you for your hard work."

* * *

Sky blue eyes slowly opened. They blink, once, twice, and the room comes into focus. Squinting against the glare of the sunlight bouncing off of the painfully white ceiling, they try to take in their surroundings. With a slight groan, the body to which the eyes belong slowly sits up. The pounding in his head became evident, prompting another groan. Cradling his head in his hands, Naruto tries to block out the pain. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, it receded.

'_The hospital again, huh.'_

A flurry of images ran through his mind. Not a single one of them was happy. Between being kicked out of the orphanage last year, to the ridicule and torment the villagers thrust upon him, to the riot, to the crowd beating him. Yeah. Not many happy memories.

The door to the hospital slid open. An old man with crème colored robes lined in red with a similarly decorated hat walked in. Naruto's face brightened.

"Jii-san!"

Naruto tried to jump out of bed at the Hokage, but instead of a small arc, the small boy's new muscles pushed him incredibly fast, barreling at the old man. Who caught him like it was nothing.

"Hello, Naruto-kun. Sit still a minute. I've got something I need to talk to you about."

Naruto finished the bear hug he was giving the old man and stood back a pace, rocking on his heels and grinning happily.

Sandaime Hokage chuckled.

"Naruto, do you remember what happened before you were brought to the hospital?"

Naruto's happy demeanor instantly vanished. The sad, pleading look on his face wrenched the heart out of anyone who had one. "Y-yes."

Sandaime sighed. "Naruto, by all accounts, you should have died that night."

"W-what? Not you too…"

"NO! I didn't mean it like that" he interjected. "I meant that the damage done to you was enough to kill you. But, it didn't."

Naruto peered at the Hokage, eyes narrowed. "Why?"

The old man closed his eyes and squatted down to the little boy's level. "Naruto, when you were born, the Kyuubi was attacking the village. Yondaime Hokage fought it, but even he was not strong enough to beat the beast. So, he did the only thing he could. He sealed it inside of you."

"W-what? T-then they're right. I am n-nothing but a d-demon!"

"Naruto, you are not the Kyuubi. He's stuck in your belly button. You are Uzumaki Naruto. You will never be a demon, do you understand?"

The boy's sobs stopped. He scrunched his eyes shut, thinking. "If he lives in my belly button, then that means…" Naruto looked down, pulled up his shirt, and poked his belly button several times. "You hear that, baka-kitsune? You're stuck in my belly button! HAH!"

Sandaime broke into an amused grin, chuckling quietly.

"I'm ashamed that the villagers can't see you as a hero. You, Naruto, are the only hero of Konoha that has given every single breath of your body to protect us. You hold back the Kyuubi. So you see, even if the villagers are mistreating you, remember that you are protecting them. You are a hero. Ok?"

"Hah! Of course I'm a hero. I'm gonna be Hokage, so it's only right that I'm so important, huh? Believe it!" (sorry, couldn't resist. )

"Ha ha ha, is that so? Well then, I'll have to train you myself. But there's something else I need to tell you. When you were unconscious, the Kyuubi changed your body. You don't look different, but he made everything work better, understand? So, basically, you have a bloodline. Isn't that cool?"

"A bloodline? What's that?"

"It's an ability passed down through family from parent to child. Because the fox made yours, you are the first. So all your children will have this cool ability."

"Hey, what kind of cool ability do I have? Can I shoot lasers from my eyes? Can I lift things without touching them? Can I shoot spider webs? What, what!"

"Ha ha ha, no. Your ability is that your body works a lot better than anyone else's. You have more strength, speed, endurance, flexibility, and a better reaction time than any other normal person. If you train hard, no one will ever be better than you. Ok?"

"COOL! Hah, better watch out! Soon I'll be stronger than you, and then they'll have to make me Hokage!"

"I don't doubt it, Naruto."

Naruto's brows furrowed.

"Um, Hokage, what is a seal?"

Sarutobi smiled. "That, Naruto, will have to wait for tomorrow. Now it's getting late, and you need to go to sleep to recover your energy."

The door opened and a nurse walked in, pushing a food cart.

"Well, you can go to sleep after you eat your dinner. Ok?"

"Okay!"

Naruto ate, despite the fact that his eyes were hurting. It was just a side effect of the medicine, right?

* * *

The sun peaked over the forest surrounding Konoha, its light shining on the peaceful village. For those who hated the morning, it was a curse they couldn't be rid of, but to those who loved waking up early, it was a bright beacon signaling a new day. For Uzumaki Naruto, it was a wake up call.

Said boy snorted in his sleep and rolled over right into the light shining in from the window.

"Damn sun…" he muttered. Sitting up and rubbing his eyes, he tries to shake off the fogginess of sleep.

"Good morning, Naruto-san."

Naruto turned to look at the nurse that walked in the door. Their eyes met, and before either could do anything, the nurse's eyes rolled up and she fell to the floor clutching her head, letting out a low moan of pain as she passed out.

Naruto's eyes widened and he jumped out of bed and rushed to her side.

"Wake up! What's wrong! What did I do?" He shook her shoulder, trying to wake her up. Looking around frantically, he caught his reflection on a small compact mirror that fell out of the nurse's pocket. Where his bright blue, incredibly expressive eyes once were, blank yellow orbs stared back at him. His eyes widened, and a massive headache throbbed through his head.

He tore his eyes away and frantically started looking around the room. He saw the emergency button next to his bed. He slammed his hand down on it.

Within a minute, several nurses and a doctor stormed into the room, only to find one of their co-workers unconscious on the ground. They rushed to her side and checked her vitals.

"What happened?" One called to Naruto, who was staring at the floor.

"I don't know! She walked into the room, and I looked at her and she fell down. Is she ok?"

"She'll be fine. But what do you mean that you looked at her and she fell down?"

Naruto looked up at the doctor in surprise. He instantly regretted it. The doctor's eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed as well. Naruto quickly reverted his gaze to the ground. The other nurses rushed to him and checked his vitals.

One of the nurses ran outside to the ANBU standing outside "Get the Hokage. Something's happening."

Sandaime entered the Hospital, his eyes never leaving the ground, to hear the sounds of sobbing.

"Naruto-kun, what's wrong?"

"I-I hurt her. I d-d-didn't mean to, honest! It just h-happened."

"I know, I know. It was an accident. Don't worry about them, they're just unconscious. Naruto, I need to cover your eyes, ok? We don't want anyone else getting hurt, do we?"

"N-no."

"Ok. Keep looking at the ground, ok?"

Sandaime peeked up at the boy. Seeing that he was following instructions, Sandaime walked up to him and wrapped a thin gauze around the boy's eyes.

"Can you see, Naruto?"

"Y-yes."

"Ok, I want to see if this stops whatever your eyes do, ok?"

"H-hai."

"Look at me."

Naruto carefully looked up into the old man's eyes. Nothing happened.

"Naruto, are you ok?"

"I-I will be."

"Ok." After a moment, Sandaime sat in the chair next to Naruto's bed. "Do… you remember what your eyes looked like after this happened?"

"Y-yes. They were yellow. I got a headache when I looked at them."

"I see. Naruto, it looks like Kyuubi gave you something more than a better body. Your eyes will knock a person unconscious if you look directly into their eyes. When you're older, they may even be able to kill." Naruto let out a sharp gasp. "Now, don't worry, they won't just yet. It's a dangerous ability. I'll need to help you learn how to control it, but to do that I'll have to take you on as my apprentice. Is that ok with you?"

"H-hai, Jii-san."

Sandaime smiled. Leaning down, he hugged Naruto's small form. "Everything will be ok, Naruto. I promise."

* * *

Six years of being an apprentice to the Hokage turned Naruto into an incredible shinobi. Many believed him to be on par with Uchiha Itachi. However, Naruto was only classified as Jounin, not as ANBU Captain that the instigator of the Uchiha Massacre was at the age of 13.

Although Naruto had not finished the Academy, he had studied under the Hokage. While it would have been incredibly difficult for the aged man to have both an apprentice and maintain his duties, it was not too difficult with Kage Bunshin. When his presence was not needed in the office, he left a clone to do the paperwork and left the smaller missions to be handed out by his secretary. When his presence was needed, Sandaime left Naruto with a Kage Bunshin for theoretical training. The application was only practiced with the Hokage himself.

Most of the counsel, as well as many shinobi, protested Sandaime taking on an apprentice. However, the Hokage is not without power, and after removing several of the more ardent supporters, they let him be. Besides, Naruto proved to be a valuable asset.

Sandaime was worried, though. He didn't have a lot of experience dealing with people his own age. He was rather detached from the world. He could show emotion, but he had trouble trusting people. The few he trusted were the Hokage and the owner of Ichiraku's and his daughter.

The blonde ninja wore an outfit similar to that of an ANBU. He preferred their armor to a Jounin vest, but refused to carry a sword. His outfit was complete with a porcelain mask, but it was purely white, no patterns or paintings, and oddly enough, without eyeholes. The mask did have several seals on the inside that turned it into something like a one way mirror, allowing Naruto to see out but no one to see in.

Of all the training he had under the old man, what caught his attention the most was his sealing techniques. His greatest accomplishment, in his opinion, was that he is was registered as a Grand Seal Master. After a rigorous test by the Toad Sannin, Jiraiya, he just had to finish a little bit of paperwork, and it was all set.

Right now, he was standing in Sandaime's office. The old man shuffled some papers and set them aside. Leaning forward, he looked at Naruto's blank mask as if he was staring him in the eyes.

"Naruto, I'm pleased with your progress. I think that you should have some friends your own age, though. Because of an odd number of students from this year's graduation, there are two students left over. Kakashi volunteered to take on Uchiha Sasuke as an apprentice, which leaves one extra student. I would like you observe the class and choose one. I want you to train with him or her. I don't think it should be an apprenticeship, par say, but more like partner training. You may be a Jounin, but even Jounin could use backup every once in a while. Do you understand?"

"Hai, Jii-san."

"Make a friend, Naruto. That's all I'm asking."

"Hai."

* * *

Yo, everyone. Well, here I am. My first foray into Fan fiction. Tell me what you think!

Now, to address a few things.

In case you haven't already realized, Naruto's new eyes are basically that of a basilisk from the Harry Potter series. The difference is that indirect eye contact can, at most, give a headache. Unaffected eye contact leads to unconsciousness, while lessened gives a headache, and increased will kill. It takes a lot of concentration though.

Don't complain that Naruto is too powerful. Kyuubi's aim was to make him strong. He did just that. And an apprenticeship to the Hokage didn't hurt either. As for his eyes, I think they're ok. I mean, the Sharingan can copy ninjutsu, cast or dispel genjutsu with ease, and predict and copy taijutsu. Its only weakness is speed. If that isn't overpowered, than my eye isn't either. And it will be unnamed, unless I get a really good suggestion from one of you guys.

If you have any suggestions, such as grammar, writing style, or a way I can make things a little more understandable, I'd be happy to listen to you. But, I don't want you to flame me just because you don't like my story. If you don't like it, don't read it. I'm writing this for my own personal pleasure, not for you. I could care less if you read it or not, but if you have to comment, at least make it constructive. Ok? Ok. Thanks!

Till next time!


	2. Chapter 2

After a long summer with little inspiration, I've decided to go back through this fic and begin revising it. I feel that chapter 1 is adequate, but that most of the chapter from that point on need a lot of work. There will be a few plot changes, but nothing major. If you actually see this update, i've added a lot more detail and made the chapter flow a little better. When I started to renovate this chapter, I wonder how in the world I could have though it near good enough to post. It's not much better, but it's a small improvement.

Anyway, hope you like it!

(9/17/08, latest update).

* * *

Lunchtime at the Academy was rarely peaceful. Between hyperactive kids on sugar highs, to the strange mishaps that seemed to befall one person or another made lunch a hectic event. The raucous sounds of ninja wannabes rang though the air. There were a few studying their textbooks as they absentmindedly ate out of their bento boxes, but for the most part, the children were playing. Though it was more violent than the civilian version, a game of Capture the Flag had at least half of them occupied.

Naruto was watching the other 13 year olds from the roof of the Academy. Observing them to see which one he should take on as a partner. Few of them caught his eye, mostly because of their immaturity. He realized that, without the Sandaime as his mentor and teacher, he would probably have been just as childish and carefree. Now, though, he knew the dangers of the world, and it had definitely forced him to grow up faster than most would have liked. A voice broke his concentration.

"May I help you, ANBU-san?"

Naruto turned around to see one of the academy teachers standing behind him. The profile on the different teachers had been given to him, and he had read them over, paying particular attention to the dossiers on the teachers of the current soon-to-graduate class. He was not really impressed by Umino Iruka, the teacher that stood before him, but the Chuunin did make an effective teacher. His own skills were well rounded and he could hold his own in a fight against most other Chuunin, but he lacked the drive and the skill to become a Jounin. His high academic knowledge and his love of teaching made him a decent instructor.

Deciding that it would be best to answer the man, Naruto said, "Ah, excuse me. I'm not an ANBU. I just prefer the armor."

Iruka looked a little confused for a second. Most ninja found the ANBU armor to be too restraining despite the extra protection it offered, but it wasn't his place to argue with the ninja in front of him. "I see," he said, slowly, with a fair amount of caution. "But you never answered my question."

Naruto paused for a second. Deciding that a simple dossier on the different ninja of the class would be insufficient to judge the Genin hopefuls on, he said, "I'd like a full report of all your graduating class. Because of the odd number, two would be left without teams, as you know. Uchiha-san is already apprenticed to Copy Ninja Kakashi, so Hokage-sama requested me to find and train a partner from this class."

"Oh, yeah. Hokage-sama sent the message. Would you follow me… um…"

"Uzumaki."

"Ah, Uzumaki-san."

The scarred Chuunin nervously lead the masked ninja off the roof through the access door, down the staircases and to his office. Contrary to the yard outside, the inside of the Academy was unsettlingly quiet during lunch. No students bustling about the halls made it a rather quiet walk. Once they reached the office, Iruka pulled a key ring out of one of the pockets on his vest and used one of the keys to open a metal filing cabinet. Gingerly, he pulled out the twenty something files of his current students, laying them out for the younger ninja to browse.

The room was relatively silent for awhile, save for the shuffling of paper as Naruto looked over the different dossiers. Iruka casually glanced at the preoccupied ninja as he sat at his desk, grading papers. Despite the ANBU-like uniform and the mask, the boy looked hardly older than the Academy Students he was currently teaching. Given that his family name was Uzumaki, it didn't take much for Iruka to put two and two together. '_So… this is the Kyuubi brat. I've heard a little bit about him. To think that he's already a Jounin, even at his age. He's definitely powerful, I'll give him that. More than a match for me… Though he doesn't seem very violent. The Hokage has reassured us that the seal _

_holds strong and that his apprentice isn't being influenced by the demon, so I suppose there's nothing to worry about. Still… I can't help but feel intimidated by him. What if… just what if it's all an act?'_

Iruka didn't want to think about the consequences. The boy was already powerful enough, but if he was being influenced by the Kyuubi as well… he would undoubtedly be nigh impossible to stop if he decided to go on a rampage. He could only pray to the Kami that his faith in the Hokage and the Fouth's seal wasn't misguided. Heaven forbid that any of his precious students got hurt because of the demon. If they did… then Iruka would lay his life on the line to protect his village.

Despite Iruka's thoughts, Naruto continued to look over the contents of the folders. It was in a very standard format, so it was easy for him to understand. The Hokage occasionally let him help with some of the lower level paperwork when he was too busy to train, saying that it would help round out his skills. Though Naruto detested paperwork, he did realize that knowing his way around the different forms did help to make paperwork a quick and efficient chore.

'_Very detailed reports. Hmm. Eight of them have real potential. Who to pick….' _The reports were very in-depth about the students' skills, abilities, and grades, as well as their potential. There was even a minor footnote on each one about their relative mental health as well. However, it didn't give the kind of insight one might be able to gleam after nearly and entire year of teaching the Genin-hopefuls. Insight that Iruka might be able to give him. Narut just wasn't very sure about how to approach the Chuunin. He'd noticed the strange looks the man had been giving him, and though not overtly hostile, he was definitely wary of the blonde.

Fortunately for Naruto, Iruka broke the ice first. "Um, Uzumaki-san?" the brown haired Chuunin tentatively asked.

Naruto's blank mask turned to regard the teacher. "Hai?" he carefully intoned.

Though taken aback at the wary edge in the boy's voice, Iruka put on a half smile and asked, "Would you like some help?"

"… I would." Naruto carefully chose a few of the folders and handed them to the teacher. "Of these eight, who is the weakest, but has the most potential. In your opinion."

"Er…" Iruka didn't know what to think. The question had taken him completely off guard. "If you're looking for an apprentice, why don't you choose one of the stronger ones?"

Naruto sighed, barely concealing the annoyance he was currently feeling. "Generally, people who are considered weaker will try harder when they train. Therefore, they make better pupils. I would rather not have to deal with an Uchiha or Hyuuga. They're notorious for being stuck up, prideful, and rather lacking when it comes to following orders. I'd rather deal with someone who knows they need to improve. Understand?"

"H-hai. Um…" Iruka looked down at the files the blonde had handed him. "I think you might want Yamanaka-san. She and Haruno-san are the weakest of this group, but Yamanaka-san has more potential than Haruno-san. Perhaps you should observe the two before you choose, though."

Naruto gently pulled the folder out of Iruka's grasp, taking another good look at the young Yamanaka girl. Though Iruka's suggestion made sense, perhaps he should gauge the girl's disposition himself. Once he made up his mind, he gave a small bow as he said, "Thank you, Umino-san."

A puff of smoke signaled his disappearance. Iruka sighed at the rather abrupt departure. "You're welcome," he groused sarcastically. Despite his skills, the youth was just as impatient as the rest of his age group. Iruka shook his head and went back to grading his papers, sending a silent prayer to the Kami that they would watch over his students.

* * *

There was a tall tree in the corner of the playground outside the academy. It had a swing on one branch, but no one really used it. Naruto was standing in its branches, looking down at the three people at the base of the tree. He recognized the Last Uchiha sitting demurely at the base of the tree, quietly munching on his own bento as he watched the nearly playground-wide game of capture the flag.

The game was a stroke of luck for Naruto. It seemed to have been an impromptu thing, started by a few of the more rowdy students and eventually growing to encompass quite a few of them from all the different classes. The 'flags' on each end were a couple of scrolls that had probably been pilfered from the academy armory. The teams were kept religiously even. Though it had been agreed that no jutsu were to be used, save for the basic three, and only blunt training weapons would be appropriate, the fighting was still rather fierce. The 'ninja' from each side would attempt to fight their way to the scroll, either 'killing' or 'capturing' the enemy. Once everyone from one side was 'killed' or 'captured', or the scroll was brought to their home base, each round was over and everyone restarted. They had apparently agreed that each team could not touch or move the scroll they were supposed to protect, instead letting it lay where it fell from the 'dead' ninja that had taken it. A few of the Chuunin instructors were casually overseeing the game to make sure that the impromptu rules were followed and that no one got hurt.

Naruto was currently watching the blonde girl that he recognized as Yamanaka Ino. Though there was little cover on the playground, the game had expanded to include the small training grounds on the other side of the Academy. Right now, she was sneaking through some bushes near the edge of the building, trying to sneak closer to the target. Naruto watched as she carefully took stock of the situation. One of her teammates rushed around the building as fast as he could go, making a bee-line straight towards the 'flag'. The opponent's guards rushed at him, ganging up on him and trying to keep him from the scroll. Ino took that moment to strike.

She burst out of the bushes, running as fast as she could across the open expanse to where the 'flag' was laying on the ground. Off to the side, a pink haired girl noticed Ino's mad dash towards the scroll. Realizing that no one was in any position to defend it, she charged at her classmate, intent on intercepting her.

From the corner of her eye, Ino spied the mass of pink hair coming at her. Deciding that defending herself was more important than grabbing the scroll, she slid to a stop, braced herself, and tried to intercept her rival's punch. Ino grunted slightly as her crossed arms blocked the punch. For a minute, the two stared at each other.

The two girls jumped back. Ino stooped down and picked up two rocks. She threw one at Sakura's feet and threw the other one right at where the pink haired girl would be in mid air, like she would do if they were shuriken. Sakura moved to the side instead, smirking because she had seen through the 'trap'. The two circled each other, Ino trying to get around her to the scroll and Sakura preventing her from getting a straight line to it. Sensing that this wouldn't get them anywhere, Sakura rushed Ino, jumping up into the air at the last moment, intent on bringing her fist down on Ino's head. Ino thrust her foot up right into Sakura's jaw, sending the girl flying… for about five feet.

Sakura picked herself off the ground. "I'll get you for that!" She flashed through some hand seals, and two copies of her appeared. The three rushed at Ino, one going low, one high, and one in a flying tackle for her middle. The ones going high and low disappeared, but the last slammed right into the log left by Ino's replacement.

The blonde girl jumped out of the tree and rushed at the still prone girl, not even noticing the other blonde still crouched on a branch one above the one she had appeared on. Before Sakura could get up, Ino kicked her in the back, pushing her back down. Ino dropped to a knee and scrambled to grab Sakura's arms. Sakura fought back as best as she could, but the foot pressed down on her back made it difficult to move. Eventually, Ino had gotten both of the pink haired girl's arms tied behind her back with some convenient ninja wire.

As she stood back up, Ino gloated. "I win, forehead-girl."

Ino took the chance to rush over to the still unguarded scroll, grab it, and hightail it back to her base. Naruto, feeling that his observations were complete, disappeared in a puff of smoke.

* * *

"Hokage-sama, Uzumaki-san is here to see you."

Sarutobi maliciously eyed the intercom system sitting on his desk. Oh, how he missed the old days when a secretary respectfully knocked on the door and waited for a verbal response. Alas, with the advent of more advanced technology, the days of such respect were long gone. "Send him in, please."

After a moment, the door opened and Naruto walked in. Sarutobi regarded his student with a watchful eye. From the way he walked, a confident bounce in his step, Sarutobi could tell that he had completed his mission. Most likely, he had found someone he wanted to teach. If he was lucky, it wouldn't disrupt the team placements he hoped for.

"Jii-san, how's the paperwork?" Naruto teasingly quipped

"Same as usual" sighed the Hokage. Not wanting to waste any more time, he asked "Did you find someone you'd like to train as a partner?"

"Yes, actually." Naruto nodded. "I think the Yamanaka girl would work well with me."

"I see," The Hokage carefully intoned. With reluctance, he said, "I'd hate to break up the Ino-Shika-Cho formation, though. Their predecessors have proved themselves to be quite effective in a team together."

Naruto considered this for a moment. It was very true, and a very valid point. Why fix what isn't broken? "I understand that they would be a very effective team. However, I don't feel that anyone else in the class would be suitable."

"I see." Sarutobi nodded. "If you're absolutely sure..?" Naruto nodded. "Very well. That still leaves me with the problem of balancing out the teams."

"May I make a suggestion?" Naruto asked. At the Hokage's nod of approval, he continued. "Perhaps if you put the Hyuuga girl in Yamanaka-san's spot and put Haruno-san with Aburame-san and Inuzuka-san, the teams would balance out quite nicely."

Sarutobi raised an eyebrow. "Why do you suppose that?" he asked. Of course, he already knew, but this was a test to see if his student had really thought out the placements or if he had just randomly shuffled around the Kunoichi.

Naruto frowned behind his mask. Something was off… Sarutobi should know why… When it clicked, he smirked. The Hokage liked to occasionally pull small tests like this to see his reasoning. It made things interesting at the very least. With a calm and steady voice, he laid out his reasoning. "The Haruno girl would do well as a genjutsu mistress, and since Kurenai-san is going to be team 8's teacher, I think that would work out well, especially for a tracking team. They won't be expected to hold combat for very long, and Genjutsu is exactly what they need to get away from a fight. Also, if team 10 is supposed to be an information gathering and assassination team, I believe that a Hyuuga would benefiet them much more than Yamanaka-san could. She could keep a look out for their target or for interlopers, and both she and Akimichi-san could focus on the combat roles in the team. Nara-san, despite his grades, seems very intelligent, and would do well in a support role and as a team leader."

"Hmm. A well thought out argument." Sarutobi let his student squirm for a minute as he mentally debated the pros and cons. Finally reaching a decision, he said, "Very well then. Yamanaka Ino is your student and partner. I'll rearrange the teams as per your suggestions."

"Thank you, Jii-san."

"You're welcome, Naruto-kun." The Sandaime chuckled. "Good luck."

Naruto gave his mentor a polite bow before retreating from the office. Sarutobi turned in his chair to regard the stone faces of his predecessors. In the slowly waning light of the early evening, the faces appeared to be more alive than usual. It filled his old heart with hope for the future, because the heroes of the past were still watching over them.

* * *

"Ok, class, settle down. I know you're glad you graduated, but I have to assign you your teams, ok?" The class was still chatting away, despite Iruka's announcement. "I SAID QUIET!"

They shut up. Iruka waited for a moment, half-heartedly glaring at his students. Not yet ready to let go of his mock anger, he huffed.

"Finally. Ok, we have… Team 8, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, and Haruno Sakura, your Jounin sensei will be Yuuhi Kurenai. Next, we have Team 10, Akimichi Chouji, Nara Shikamaru, Hyuuga Hinata. Your Jounin Sensei will be Sarutobi Asuma."

Iruka waited for a moment to let the news sink in to the now graduated Genin. "Your Jounin sensei will be here sometime after lunch." The bell, signaling the end of class, let out a loud ring. "Speaking of which, you're free to go."

"Sensei." Iruka stopped putting his miscellaneous papers away to look at the person who spoke to him.

"Yes, Sasuke?" The boy looked somewhat angry, and a little confused, though he tried to hide it behind an emotionless mask.

"Why wasn't I put on a team?"

Iruka gave the dark haired boy a small smile. "You're apprenticed to Hatake Kakashi. He should be here with the other Jounin sensei to pick you up."

Sasuke sat back and smirked. Though it was mostly to cover his relief, he was rather exited at the prospect of studying under one of Konoha's most skilled Jounin.

"Iruka-sensei, does that mean I'm apprenticed to someone too?" Ino asked, confusion laced through her words.

Iruka gave his student a reassuring smile. "Yes, Ino, it does. Your sensei is Uzumaki Naruto. He should be here to pick you up after lunch."

_Take that, forehead-girl. I'm getting one on one training from a Jounin! There's no way you can keep up with me now!" _Ino thought to herself. The prospect of becoming an apprentice was exiting, she decided as she left for lunch.

Eventually, sometime after lunch, all the teams left with their instructors, leaving only Ino and Sasuke in the room. The dark haired boy was, as usual, showing no emotion other than boredom. Ino, however, was fuming in her desk, just short of picking it up and slamming it through the wall. It had only been half an hour since 

the last team left, so it wasn't that big of a deal. Then again, Ino always was rather excitable. Besides, any fan girl repeatedly rejected in half an hour would be rather irritable.

The door to the class slid open. A flash of blonde hair above a white mask peaked into the room. "Yamanaka Ino?"

Despite the fact that the voice didn't sound too much older than herself, she yelled "It's about damn time you got here! I've been waiting _ages_!."

"Sorry." The person behind the mask gave a small bow. "I was trying to plan out your training schedule and lost track of time."

"You… lost track of time." Ino deadpanned.

"Uh… yeah."

"BAKA!" Her fist would have slammed right into his jaw, if he hadn't have caught it.

"Come on, we don't have all day." He let go of her fist and stalked out of the rrom. _'Not a good first impression…'_ he thought.

Ino followed him out of the room, still fuming somewhat. The nerve of this guy! It just seemed to rub her the wrong way. Still, it was a little intimidating, the way he had caught her fist. Ino realized that this was a Jounin, someone who could easily kill her, and it probably wasn't a good idea to be attacking him. She huffed, matching his pace. After a little bit of walking, Ino spoke up.

"Where are we going?"

"Training grounds 13."

"Oh… Are we there yet?"

Naruto sweat dropped.

* * *

Naruto and Ino found themselves in the shade of a rather large tree. There was a small stream that flowed into a pond off to the side of the training grounds, a couple of boulders here and there, and a spattering of trees. Of course, like any other training field in Konoha, it was surrounded by forest.

"Ok, here we are. Before we start training, we should introduce ourselves. We're stuck together until you can apply for the Jounin exams."

"Don't you mean the Chuunin Exams? At the academy, I was told that you had to become a Chuunin before you became a Jounin."

"That's not entirely true. Although it is common for most ninja to attend the Chuunin exams, it's not required before becoming a Jounin." Naruto explained. "Since I wasn't in a Genin team, I didn't have anyone to take the test with. Therefore, I couldn't take the test. Instead, I applied directly for the Jounin exams."

"Oh…" Ino looked a little bewildered by the new information.

"Genin are encouraged to become Chuunin before trying to take the Jounin exams, but for most ninja working as an apprentice rather than part of a team, they are much more likely to be ready to be a Jounin. It's… kinda complicated."

Naruto cleared his throat. "We should move on to our introductions."

Ino nodded. Still feeling a little unsure, she said, "Um, why don't you go first."

"Ok. My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I'm 13 years old. I like training, ramen, and working on new seals. I dislike one of my abilities and my… condition. My hobbies are working on new seals and playing music. My goals are to train you to be an effective kunoichi and to become Hokage." He paused to let Ino process this new information. "Now, how 'bout yourself?"

Ino took a breath to steady her nerves before beginning. "Um, my name is Yamanaka Ino, but you already knew that. I'm 13… hey wait, how did you get to be a Jounin at 13?"

"The Hokage trained me since age 7."

"Oh." Ino frowned. "How did you manage that?"

"It was a… special case." Naruto haltingly stated.

"Oh…" Ino shoved the many questions she had to the back of her mind, opting instead to continue her introduction. "I'm 13 years old, I like Sasuke-kun, I dislike Forehead-girl, and one day I hope to be a Jounin and marry Sasuke-kun."

"A fan girl, huh. Well, don't worry. I'll fix that soon enough." Naruto said to himself.

"What are you mumbling about? "

"Nothing. Anyway, it's time to start your training. See that tree over there?"

Ino looked towards where he was pointing. "Yeah."

"I want you to sprint to it, touch it, sprint back here, and touch this tree. Got it?"

Ino carefully nodded.

"Then get going."

Ino took off running, touched the tree, and ran back. She slid to a stop in front of Naruto, panting.

"H-how was that?" she said between breaths.

"Not bad. I'm gonna have you do it again, but this time, I'll be throwing rocks at you. You'd better dodge. Oh, and don't stop running until I say so, got it?"

"WHAT!"

"Oh, you'd rather go back to the academy?" he goaded.

"N-no." Ino wavered for a minute, unsure.

"Then get running!" His shout startled her into action. Dodging the rocks as best she could, she made it to the other tree. She ran back and forth for almost a half hour. It wasn't until she collapsed from exhaustion that Naruto stopped.

"Good job. Now that we're warmed up, we can start meditation."

Ino groaned and tried to sit up. Luckily for her, she collapsed underneath one of the trees, so she didn't have the sun beating down on her.

"I'm gonna teach you a little chakra exercise. So listen up."

"You're evil."

"No pain, no gain, princess. Start by finding your chakra. Make the Ram seal. Good. Pull it from your center and let it flow into your arms and into the seal. Now direct it out of your hands and into your legs. Let it go down your legs and into the ground. Got it? Make sure you only use small amounts. Good, you've got it now. Feel better?"

"Wha… yeah, I do…"

Naruto chuckled. "The chakra helps remove lactic acid from your muscles. It stops them from aching too much."

"This… this is incredible. Why don't they teach us this stuff at the academy?"

"Because I invented this exercise."

"Oh... "The more she found out about this guy, the more she wanted to know. He was pretty amazing for someone her age.

"Once you feel better, tell me and we'll get to your first chakra control exercise: tree walking."

"Can't it wait until tomorrow?"

"Someone once told me that procrastination is like masturbation. It's all well and good, but you wake up one day and realize that you're screwing yourself over. Thus sayeth the pretty princess."

"Oh… What's masturbation?"

Naruto sweat dropped. "Er, ask your parents."

* * *

"Ok, that's enough for today."

Almost a week had passed, and Ino had made a lot of progress. She had already mastered the tree climbing, and they were starting to work on her Taijutsu, speed, and stamina. She gingerly sat down against the tree she was trying to walk up. Groaning, she stretched out her legs, trying to ease the aches and pains from her hard workout. Naruto searched the pockets of his Jounin vest, looking for something. Finding it, he pulled out a small jar.

"Here" he tossed the jar to Ino. "It's a medicated cream. Rub it into your arms and legs or anywhere else you're aching. It'll help loosen cramps and help your muscles retain flexibility."

"Thanks." Ino dipped her fingers into the cool gelatinous material and started spreading it on her legs. While his student was occupied, Naruto took a scroll out of one of his front pockets, pressed one of the seals, and grabbed the guitar that appeared in a puff of smoke. He sat at one of the trees next to Ino's. He plucked out a calming, relaxing melody.

"So, you weren't kidding when you said you liked to play music."

"Yeah. It's relaxing."

For a few moments, only the sound of Naruto's playing was heard. Taking the initiative, Ino spoke. "You know, there's a club in the Eastern section that has an amateur musician night. Thursdays, I think. You should sign up."

"Perhaps"

"No, seriously! You're really good. I think you should go. I could probably get Sakura and some of my other friends to go. Besides, I'm supposed to help you interact with kids our age, and this would be a good opportunity."

"… Ok. I'll go. But… I don't have many cloths other than my ninja uniforms."

"Then tomorrow, we're going shopping. Um, if that's ok with you, sensei."

Naruto's blank mask turned to her. "Sure. But don't think you're getting out of training." Naruto pulled a scroll out and sealed his guitar up again. "Meet me by the Hokage's tower around 8 tomorrow morning."

Naruto jumped up to one of the larger branches. He paused for a moment. Ino barely heard what he said next. "Good night, Ino-chan." Then he was gone.

Ino smiled. "Good night, Naruto-kun."


	3. Chapter 3

(9/17/08) Updated. Hope it's better than it's predecessor.

The sun was still relatively low in the sky, though completely over the horizon at this point. The light shone down on the village of Konohagakure as people got up and about. Shopkeepers splashed some water on the sidewalks in front of their stores, cleaning off the sidewalk for their customers. Merchants opened up their stands and began hawking their wares to anyone walking past. Children rubbed sleep out of their eyes as they trudged to school. It was the people, Ino realized, that made this village special. Not the place, not the great buildings, not even the monuments. That was why the Ninja worked so hard each day: to protect their families, their friends, their loved ones, their children, and their neighbors.

The revelation left Ino with a small smile on her face. Naruto-sensei was a hard teacher. He put her through her paces, leaving her worn out at the end of the day. A couple of times, he even had to take her home himself. Still, she had begun to see her improvement. It didn't wind her so much to run across the village from her house to the training grounds each morning. Her spars with Naruto weren't as one-sided any more. Though she still had a hard time landing a hit on him.

All in all, she was feeling rather proud of her accomplishments. Though she didn't have a lot of free time and had grown distant from her classmates, and what little free time she had was taken up with training with her dad in her family's jutsu, she was rather content with her life at the moment. With that thought, she finally stepped into her usual training grounds.

"Ohaio, Ino." Naruto's voice seemed to float from all directions at once. Ino casually looked around, trying to spot him.

"Ohaio, Naruto-sensei," she replied, pretending to be tired and still half asleep. Naruto probably knew better, she though.

Said ninja jumped down from the tree he was standing on, landing on the path in front of Ino, not quite surprising her. He did this almost every morning, after all, and she'd grown rather used to it.

"We've been training for almost three months now, and I feel that it's time that you learned the most important shinobi skill: the art of silent killing."

Ino's eyebrows furrowed. "N-Naruto-sensei, are you sure? I don't think I'm ready…" It wasn't that she wasn't confident about her skills to learn it, it was that… she wasn't sure if she was ready to learn how to kill so soon.

"I'd rather you learn now than on the field where a mistake could kill you." Naruto's voice had softened a little. There was a hint of genuine worry there, and Ino could tell that it wasn't an act. Still…

Ino frowned, but nodded in assent. Naruto motioned for Ino to follow him and walked to the middle of a clearing. Ino followed him, deep in thought. This kind of training usually didn't come until much later until after they had already fought other ninja. Once they got there, Naruto did a few hand seals and a generic shinobi materialized next to him.

"This is a genjutsu that will replicate damage to a human body in a realistic manner."

Ino nodded. While she wasn't familiar with this particular Genjutsu, she was familiar with a fair amount of Genjutsu theory. It worried her, however, because she knew that to do this kind of Genjutsu, one had to have a lot of experience around wounds and the dead or dying. Frankly, it unnerved her.

Naruto continued. "Now, suppose you were on an infiltration mission and the only way you could successfully get into the target area was to eliminate this guard. What would be the best method to kill him without leaving any evidence for the next patrol to find?"

Ino's eyes narrowed, contemplating her choices. "…Maybe if you snuck up behind him and cut his throat?" It shocked her, slightly, to hear such a phrase spill out of her mouth. Still… now wasn't the time to be worrying.

"In many situations, that method would work well, but…" Naruto pulled out a kunai and placed it at the illusion's throat. With a jerk, the steel bit deep into the pseudo-human's throat, spraying blood all over his arm and hand. The body fell onto the ground, and a puddle of dark blood leaked out from under the corpse, slowly sinking into the dirt. Ino gasped, putting her hand over her mouth in apparent horror, her face paling and turning slightly green. "… as you can see, the body and the blood leaves behind too much evidence." The Genin absently nodded, sickened at the sight in front of her.

The body and blood phased out of existence and a perfect replica stood in its place.

After Ino took a moment to recollect herself, she asked "What about breaking its neck?"

Naruto's blank mask gave him the illusion that he was staring at her. She started to fidget under the 'gaze'. Wordlessly, Naruto wrapped his arms around the illusion's neck and with a clearly audible snap, the body fell limply to the ground.

"As you can hear, the separation of the vertebrae creates a clearly audible noise, and any competent ninja could hear that sound. Between that and the body, your infiltration mission is blown to pieces." Again, the body reformed itself. "Though breaking the neck does work well in most situations, in high risk infiltration missions, it's not a viable option. The way to truly silently kill someone without leaving a lot of evidence is to use the Headhunter no jutsu. Watch."

Naruto did a few hand seals and sunk into the ground. After a moment, his hand shot up from the soil, grabbed the dummy's ankle, and pulled it completely underground. Without a sound, Naruto ascended from the soil, casually brushing the dust off of his ANBU armor.

"I taught you that jutsu two weeks ago, and while it is a great way to temporarily incapacitate an enemy so they can be captured, it was originally used as an assassination technique. As I taught you before, the jutsu protects you so that you can walk and breath underground, allowing you to drag someone down. However, when you drag someone completely under, they aren't protected, 

and will suffocate before they can escape. Keep this in mind. Um, also remember that the Headhunter no jutsu only works on the ground. Don't try it in a building, or you might get stuck."

"H-hai." For a moment, an awkward silence descended on the clearing. "Ano, Naruto-sensei, have you ever killed before?"

"…Yes."

"H-how did it happen?"

Naruto pondered the question for a moment. This was… unexpected. He felt that he owed his student an explanation, but he wasn't sure if she was ready to know… Then again, he was about to teach her how to kill in a very efficient manner, and knowing that she wasn't the only one to ever go through the mental anguish of killing would certainly help her.

"Do you know why I wear this mask?" Ino shook her head. What did the mask have to do with killing? "When I was seven, I developed a bloodline. I hesitate to call it a Doujutsu, because it affected my whole body, but the most prominent effect is centered on my eyes. With just a glance, a single moment of eye contact, I can render anyone unconscious."

"That's… wow." Ino was staring at her sensei.

Naruto turned away, staring at the dark clouds in the distance. He spoke in a flat, monotonous, emotionless voice. "When I was nine, I learned that when I concentrate chakra to my eyes, instead of knocking people out when I look at them, I kill them. My… my first kill was an accident." He paused for a moment as if searching for the words to adequately convey his story. "I was walking home from training, and because I was exhausted, I accidentally tripped. My…my mask broke because of the fall. A lady tried to help me up, and when I looked up at her to thank her, my chakra flared," his voice wavered, and he trailed off for a moment. "My killing eye, my Sesshougan, activated. She… she died instantly. Hokage-sama told me it was a painless death…"

Ino gasped. Her knees weakened and she fell down, landing hard on her rear. "N-Naruto-sensei… I'm so sorry…" Tears welled up in her eyes, but they refused to fall.

He turned back to her and offered a hand. She accepted it and he pulled her up. "Thank you, Ino." He paused for a second before continuing. "Even though a shinobi must become accustomed to killing, never grow to like it. There are a lot of good shinobi in the mental ward because they couldn't control their bloodlust. Taking pleasure from other's pain is the first step to the crazy house. On the other hand, detesting killing can limit a shinobi's capabilities. The reason why many Jounin are so strange is because that's how they cope with the lives they've taken. Kakashi-sempai, Sasuke's sensei, for example, developed an obsession for a book called Icha Icha Paradise. You'll almost always see him reading his smut novel, unless he's being serious."

Ino cocked her head in confusion. Naruto, accurately reading her, said, "He… copes with smut…" She giggled, and when Naruto started chuckling, they both broke into laughter.

Once their laughter died down, Naruto re-created the illusion.

"Ino, before we got sidetracked, I was going to give you a little bit of experience in killing. In a fight, if you pause after you eliminate an opponent, other ninja might take advantage of your weakness. This genjutsu will make this exercise as realistic as possible. Do each form of assassination I demonstrated earlier, and once you've had practice, I'll expand the genjutsu into a realistic infiltration exercise. Be warned, if you alert the patrols, you'll have to either fight them, or escape. Understood?"

"H-hai." Ino steeled her resolve. This was an important step in her training, and she couldn't afford to fail.

"Then begin."

* * *

Ino crouched in the bushes, right next to the path that a lone ninja was patrolling. Just behind the ninja was the outermost wall of the illusionary castle she was assigned to infiltrate. She flashed through some hand seals and sunk into the ground, whispering "Headhunter no jutsu"

The guard paused, looking around for the source of the flared chakra. Sensing nothing, he turned back to his patrol route, only to be pulled under the ground. Ino slowly rose out of the disturbed earth, brushing the dirt off her dress. She used the tree walking exercise to walk up the side of the wall, crouching on top of it, searching for more patrols. Seeing none, she jumped down, landing with a muffled thud. _'Infiltration, success' _she thought.

Carefully, she crept along the wall, threading through pushes and over flowerbeds. She heard the sound of voices, but she couldn't make out what they were saying. She paused, watching the patrolling samurai walk past. Once out of sound range, she sprinted across the courtyard, and ran up the wall of the castle, jumping onto the roof. Carefully, she made her way to the upper stories along the side of the walls of each consecutive story of the multi-tiered Japanese style castle. She had to step carefully, or she might knock a tile loose, and the crash it would make when it slid off the roof would alert the patrols.

Cautiously, she eased open the sliding window of the story just underneath the top story, which were only the private quarters of the castle lord and his family. The documents she was after were in the Daimyo's study, the room just underneath the master bedroom.

* * *

The next patrol was walking past Ino's entry point. The two Chuunin level ninja were silently scanning their surroundings. One noticed the patch of loose dirt left by the Headhunter no jutsu.

"What have we here…" he cautiously approached the spot and, finding no traps, plunged his hand deep into the soil. He pulled out the corpse of the previous patrol.

"Looks like we have an intruder. Go sound the alert and bring as many people here as you can."

"Hai." His partner disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

'_You can sneak around all you want, little one, but you have to leave soon. And we'll be waiting…'_

* * *

Ino carefully slid the window shut, the scroll carefully tucked into her ninja pouch. Silently as possible, she snuck along the rooftop until she found a place that she could jump across to the wall. After that, it was a simple matter of jumping back over the wall and running to freedom. But things don't always work out as planned.

The minute her foot touched down on the earth outside the castle, a kunai barely missed her nose. She jerked back and stumbled to keep her footing. The ninja from the second patrol charged at her from her right side, kunai in hand. Ino dodged the wild swipe, planting her fist in the guy's ribs just a little under his armpit. Ino whirled out of range to avoid his return swipe.

The blonde Genin pulled out a kunai of her own and charged at the man. She thrust her hand forward, hoping to catch him off guard and score a wound on his abdomen, but he knocked her kunai aside with his own. Ino brought her knife back in a back-handed slash, but the man dodged, grabbed her wrist, and threw her over his shoulder. Ino neatly twisted in mid air, chucking the kunai at the still hunched over form of her opponent. He dropped to the ground, brought his knees up under his body, and leapt forward, catching her off guard. His shoulder slammed into her gut, sending the two tumbling onto the ground. With a well placed elbow to the man's temple and a quick heave, Ino took control of the grapple, ending up straddled on his chest. Before he could recover from the blow, the girl brought her kunai down on his throat.

Hot, red blood sprayed from the man's pierced jugular. Droplets covered Ino's arm, shoulder, and face, while the majority spilled down the side of the man's neck. He gurgled and spasmed for a minute, coughing up pink foam that ran down the side of his face, before falling silent and still. A kunai whistled through the air and impaled itself deep into Ino's back, sending her sprawling in the dirt, unmoving. Or, it would have, if a quick replacement hadn't moved her out of harm's way. The other ninja from the patrol burst into the clearing, a score of samurai hot on his trail. But Ino was already far away.

The blonde mind walker panted heavily as she jumped from tree branch to tree branch, snaking her way through the dense foliage of the forest canopy. She let herself drop down a dozen feet before she grabbed a branch, and propelled herself with a kick. A quick back flip later, and she landed in a clearing. Carefully inspecting her surrounding for trap or ambushes, and finding none, she turned her gaze back to the castle, just visible over the treetops.

The 'castle' faded out of existence and a slightly winded Naruto jumped down beside her. "Do you have the documents?"

"Right here." Ino fumbled with the scroll, but managed to get it out of her pouch and into Naruto's outstretched hand. It too faded from existence.

"Large scale illusions are hard to maintain, you know." He said, trying to keep his voice lighthearted as possible.

"For a minute, I almost though it was real."

Naruto chuckled. "I'll take that as a compliment…"

"Speaking of compliments, how'd I do?" Her hopeful look said it all.

"Good for a solo Genin. Your quality of work was more on a Chuunin level, and that's no mean feat for someone with only three months of training outside the Academy. But, you need to work on your Headhunter no jutsu. If you leave patches of loose dirt, patrols will find them, and that could lead to trouble. That little fight you had could have ended up a lot worse. Be glad that I taught you how to grapple, or that close range fighting would have been a lot more difficult, especially after a flying tackle." Naruto paused, tilting his head to the side, as if thinking. "I think I should have mentioned that in any infiltration mission, it's best to leave in a different route than the one you came in on. If there had been more ninja on the premises, you might have died. That is my fault, though, but you'd do well to remember that."

Ino nodded. Naruto had given a very concise report, detailing her work. Still, she wanted some positive reinforcement. Surpressing a sly smile, she 'innocently' asked, "So… I did good?"

"Yes, you did." Behind his mask, Naruto gave her a bemused grin. Still, he had decided to play along.

"Hah! Take that, forehead girl! I did a B-ranked infiltration exercise! Nyah!" Naruto sweat dropped at Ino's antics, especially where she pulled her eyelid down at someone who obviously wasn't there.

"So, where's my reward?" Ino asked expectantly.

Naruto sighed and pulled out a scroll. Ino practically pounced on it, quickly unrolling it and scanning the contents.

"I'm not supposed to teach you this… it's a Jounin level technique."

"Yeah, but it's not fair that you can do that poof-away thing and I can't. Once I master the Shunshin no jutsu, you won't be able to lord it over me." The girl was almost drooling over the scroll. Almost being the key word. It wouldn't do for a lady like her to be caught drooling, now would it?

"Be very careful with this technique. Until you've got it down, it'll use up a lot of chakra, and I don't want you in the hospital from chakra exhaustion. Once you feel low, stop practicing and get some rest. You'll lose more time if you're stuck in the hospital for a week than if you quit early."

"Hai, hai. I know already. Can I practice it now?" she wined.

Naruto sighed. "Sure, why not. If you're not here by 8 tomorrow, I'll assume that you overtaxed yourself, and there won't be any training for a week so you can 'recover'. Understood?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Barely paying attention, she turned back to her scroll.

If you could have seen his eyes, Naruto would have rolled them. He poofed away.

'_Lucky bastard. Soon, I'll be able to do that too…'_ Ino though as she slowly worked out the jutsu.

* * *

Naruto gently knocked on the door to the Hokage's office. A muffled "Enter" rang from inside the room. The door gently opened, allowing Naruto to slip through into the office. Sarutobi was scribbling at some paperwork, mumbling quietly to himself in apparent annoyance. Small motes of dust were visible as they floated through the air, illuminated by the light of the late afternoon sun shining in through the windows.

"Hokage-sama." Naruto lowly intoned with a small bow.

"Ah, Naruto-kun." Sarutobi shuffled his papers to the side, giving his student his full attention. "What brings you here?"

"Just a report on Yamanaka-san's training."

The old man nodded, gesturing to the boy to continue. "It's been three months since her graduation, and she has improved with leaps and bounds. Her stamina has improved to an average Chuunin level, as has her Taijutsu. With ninjutsu, she's slowly gaining more and more, though I do push her to master each one fully before moving on to the next. She has a decent grasp of Genjutsu, but not the spark to make them truly devastating." Naruto paused for a second, turning his blank mask to the old man in front of him. "Overall, I'd say that she would be ready to begin the Chuunin exams."

Sarutobi nodded. "You've come quite far with her training."

"Yes. However, I worry about her social life. She's had little time to socialize with her classmates and friends, and since she's just begun battlefield conditioning…"

Naruto let the implications rest unsaid. They both knew what it meant. Battlefield conditioning was using Genjutsu to simulate real kills. While it did harden a ninja's heart on the battlefield, without the proper support from friends and family, it was difficult to maintain a level of sanity required for her job.

"Very well. Perhaps a day off would be good for her. A night out on the town, of sorts." Sarutobi mused.



Naruto thought it over for a minute. He remembered the conversation Ino had with him shortly after they began training. She had asked him to join Amature Musician Night at one of the local clubs. Naruto wasn't too enthusiastic about the idea, but it would make a nice night out for the both of them. Besides, she could bring her friends along, and that socialization alone would be worth it. His mind was made up.

"I believe that would be wise. I… was considering attending an Amateur music night at one of the local clubs. I believe that would be an acceptable outing." Sarutobi nodded, considering Naruto's musical talent. It wasn't an obsession so much as a regular hobby. "If I can convince her to invite her friends as well, that would give the both of us a night of relaxation and socialization."

"If that is what you wish, Naruto-kun," Sarutobi said, a small smile breaking across his old and wrinkled face, "than by all means, have some fun."

Naruto smiled behind his mask. Despite his teacher being the leader of the village, he still had a kind and gentle heart. It was one of the things that made the Sandaime Hokage one of the best leaders in the ninja world. Naruto was proud to have studied under him.

"Thank you, Jii-san."

Sarutobi chuckled. "Oh, go on. I have paperwork I need to finish." The old man shooed his student away. Naruto bowed again and quietly left the office.

Sarutobi was glad to see Naruto beginning to interact with kids his own age. It had honestly worried him when Naruto had avoided most anyone save for those he worked with on missions. He had a group of some older Jounin he regularly socialized with, even going so far as to be friendly with, but Sarutobi was worried that constantly being around older ninja wouldn't allow him to fully enjoy his childhood. Though his training was necessary, given his eyes, and he had become one of the most powerful in the village and a valuable asset, the old man couldn't help but feel guilty about the ruined childhood.

Then again, with a demon sealed in one's stomach, it was difficult to have any sort of normal childhood.

Speaking of demons, Jiraiya had gotten an important notice from his spy network. Apparently, a small organization of very powerful ninja was attempting to gather information on the different Bijuu. Particularly the Jinchuuriki. While that in itself was troubling, the fact that the ninja in said organization were all S-class criminals put him on edge.

What's worse was that both he and Jiraiya theorized that their information gathering was not entirely innocent. A sinking feeling in his gut told him that somehow they were attempting to capture the Bijuu. That put Naruto in danger, and with S-class criminals after him, that also put the village in danger.

That was one of the reasons why he asked Naruto to choose a partner. Someone he could trust, he could rely on, and someone he would train to the best of his abilities. Someone who would be there to back him up against anyone. With a wry grin, he also supposed that it had helped even out the Genin teams as well, so he got two birds with one stone.

Deciding that, at the moment, the best thing to do would be to do nothing. Jiraiya would watch over this organization and report back to him. Should they make a move, most likely they would know about it.

He sat back on his chair, tapped the ashes out of his pipe and replaced them with fresh tobacco. A simple low level Katon jutsu lit it for him, and he drew a large puff. He blew out and watched as the smoke curled up towards the ceiling. He hoped that, in the end, everything would turn out all right. In the Ninja world, however, the best plan was to hope for the best and to plan for the worst. The best thing to do at this moment was to wait. So, wait he did.


	4. Chapter 4 Plus Omake!

"_Oh, little boy, are you all right?"_

"_Y-yes, I think so."_

"_Here, let me help you up."_

"_Thank you, miss."_

"_It's quite al-"_

"_Miss? Are you ok? Why did you fall down? Miss? Miss!?"_

"_NOOOO"_

Naruto woke with a start. He sat there, panting for a few minutes before throwing off his sweat soaked covers. As silently as he could, he paced his bedroom floor, trying to shake off the memories of his nightmare. He looked up and caught his reflection in the mirror. Spiky yellow hair, round face, three whisker marks on each cheek, and those baleful yellow eyes of his, without a pupil, staring and staring and staring…

In a fit of rage, Naruto pulled back his fist and smashed the mirror. The glass shards fell to the ground, and the frame followed shortly after. Naruto pulled his fist back and watched with an eerie calm as the pieces of glass stuck in his skin were pushed out by his tenant's chakra, the wound sealing itself, leaving unmarked skin behind.

He sighed and left the room. His living room smelled of stale tobacco smoke, despite the potpourri scattered around the room. There was little in the room besides a bookshelf lined with many volumes, most on chakra manipulation and ninja techniques, a desk with a lamp on it, a lounge chair, and a small table. There was a kitchenette in one corner. His small apartment had three rooms, the bedroom, the bathroom, and the main room.

Naruto wearily sat down at the desk and turned on the lamp. A few pieces of paper were scattered around, but at the top of the one in the very middle gave the name of the technique Naruto was working on. Hiraishin.

The seals needed were incredibly complex. So far, all he could figure out was that two separate seal arrays were needed, one on the destination point and one sealed onto the body. From there, he had no idea.

"**Foolish human, have you no sense."**

'_What is it you wish, Kyuubi-san?'_

"**To help you, my host."**

'_I've already had more than enough help from you. Or have you forgotten how you cursed me with these damnable eyes?'_

"**I give you the ultimate Doujutsu counter and you call it a curse? I only did what I had to. I will not be seen as a weakling, and if you, my container, are weak, then it reflects upon me. It seems I should have improved your brain as well."**

'_All you demons seek is power. That's all you care about.'_

"**Of course! What else do you expect from the most powerful of demons? All I care about is power; I do not like being seen as weak. Therefore, you must become powerful. How you use that power is your own business. Now, back to the reason I wanted to speak to you. Think about the technique's name. Hi-Rai-Shin. The Kanji characters mean Flying THUNDER God. It's more than obvious that the Yondaime was Lightning natured. Why else would he have a technique that so intimately used Lightning Chakra?"**

'_How would you know?'_

"**Because I fought against him. His technique is incredibly simple, once you figure out his seal arrays. The destination points are nothing more than a simple seal to hold some of his own Lightning Chakra. The nature of lightning is to go down the easiest path, and for his chakra, that meant to places where there was more of his Lightning Chakra. He merely had to select a destination, cover himself in Lightning chakra, and ride along with it as it traveled to its destination. Yellow Flash indeed."**

'_How does that help me? I'm Wind natured, not Lightning.'_

"**It doesn't. Only a master at Lightning manipulation could ever hope to learn the Hiraishin. Of course, Yondaime was a **_**seal**_** expert, and even with my incredible powers, I find myself amazed with what a few written symbols can do for you mortals."**

Naruto sighed and opened the pack of cigarettes on the desk. He lit one up, mulling things over as he smoked.

"**Why did you ever start that disgusting habit?"**

'_I picked it up from Asuma-sensei. He did teach me how to manipulate Wind chakra. You remember him, don't you?'_

"**Oh yes, the lazy one. Quite good with his trench knives. You're stronger than him now, aren't you?"**

'_Much more so.'_

"**As expected with my host. Should you ever need to make use of my superior intellect or my massive chakra reserves, you know where to find me.**"

'_Indeed I do. Farewell.'_

* * *

After a few hours of trying to alter the Hiraishin to use Wind Chakra and failing miserably at the task, Naruto left to do some early morning shopping. In a ninja village, many stores opened at sunrise or earlier, while many more were open late. There were even a few open 24 hours a day. With ninja coming and going on their missions at any hour of the day, it became important to revolve around their schedule. Almost 75 percent of Konoha's cash flow came from money gained from doing missions. The rest was mostly gained off of trade, banking, and underground activities. While Konohagakure was not the wealthiest town in the world, there were few who had to really struggle to make ends meet.

The grey of the pre-dawn gave adequate illumination, even without the street lights in most civilian cities. Despite the early hour, there was still a fair amount of hustle and bustle. Civilians going to open their shops, or coming home from closing, ninja preparing for missions or going to or coming home from training.

"Oi, Naruto." His thoughts interrupted, he turned to see who called him.

"Asuma-sensei? What are you doing around here?"

"Looking for you. And don't call me sensei. I've already taught you everything I know, and besides, you're stronger than me."

"Ok, Asuma-sempai." Asuma sighed. "Whatever. Anyway, it's been three months since graduation, and I've been talking to all the other senseis of the rookies. We're gonna have a little get together to see how far we've progressed. Even Kakashi and Sasuke are coming. I was wondering if you and Ino wanted to come."

"Yeah, sounds good. But don't be complaining when she beats all your students." If you could have seen under his mask, you would have seen Naruto smirk.

"Sure, whatever you say. It starts at 3 this afternoon. See you there."

"Ok."

Naruto and Asuma parted ways, leaving Naruto to his thoughts and Asuma to whatever he was doing. Thinking back on his conversation with his tenant, Naruto thought about an odd discrepancy. _'Why would Kyuubi stress the word 'seal'? And beyond that, why would he complement humans of all things, even going so far as to admit he was impressed with what we could do with seals? Seals, seals… that's it! If I can design a seal that allows me to convert my chakra into Lightning natured chakra, I can adapt it to the Hiraishin! Yes!'_

It took all of Naruto's self control to not jump around and dance a silly little jig. His grin went unseen behind his mask.

* * *

Ino appeared by the edge of the training grounds she and Naruto used, rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, and stepped into the morning sunlight. As expected, her sensei and supposed partner was already there, running through a few Taijutsu routines.

She couldn't help but stare. He was like grace incarnate, flowing so smoothly and seamlessly with a deceptive gentleness. She knew for a fact, from their many spars, that his blows _hurt_. Remembering the time they went to the hot springs together and she'd seen him wrapped only in a towel and a blindfold to cover his eyes, she knew that he had a slim figure rippling with lithe muscles. He'd never win a body building contest, but his body was very well developed. But it wasn't just that he was gorgeous; in the past month or so, he'd really opened up to her, letting his personality show through his calm and somewhat distant façade.

He'd crack jokes and tell silly little one liners here and there, sending her into fits of giggling, and he could hold up a decent conversation too. _'He does have some brains behind all that brawn.' _Really, she had to admit that she'd started to fall for him. Generally, she went for the bad-boy type, one of the main reasons she'd liked Sasuke, but Naruto just had that air of confidence around him that drove her crazy. And while he had the power and skill to back it up, he didn't lord it over people either. Now that she had someone to compare the last Uchiha to, Sasuke seemed far to arrogant. That didn't mean that she just stopped liking him, far from it; she just wasn't as obsessive over him as she was before. Now, she took everything he did with a grain of salt. Not that she'd had much contact with him since they'd graduated from the academy.

"Are you going to stare at me all day or are you going to start training?" Ino blushed at getting caught, and said "While I wouldn't mind the staring part, I'd rather get some training done."

Naruto chuckled. "I see you managed to perfect that jutsu I gave you yesterday. Good job." The last time Naruto had seen a brighter smile was when Gai did his Nice Guy pose, and his pearly white teeth both pinged and reflected the morning sun into his eyes.

The two did some light stretches and a few light exercises just to warm up. Before they progressed to anything more strenuous, Naruto called a halt.

"What is it, sensei?'

"I don't want you to tire yourself out today. All the kids you graduated with are having a get together today, and there'll probably be some sparring. I want you to be at your best, even if it's only to prove that you're better than they are."

"When does it start?"

"At 3:00. Asuma didn't say, but I'll bet it's at training grounds 10."

"Ok, I got it."

"Right. I'll see you then."

Naruto puffed away. Ino smirked and formed a hand seal. "You're not the only one who can do that now, sensei." Then she too disappeared in a puff of smoke.

* * *

Hey guys! Well, Kyuubi said that I got enough reviews, so I'm not his slave and he won't destroy my story. But he still made me clean between his teeth… man, he needs a Tic Tac or something cuz his breath STINKS! I'd have had this chapter out sooner, but Kyuubi made me use a human sized toothbrush, and with as big as his mouth is, it took me a long time…

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter, and next chapter I'll have the little get together. We'll see some fights, like Sakura vx. Ino, Team 8 Vx Team 10 (a 3 on 3) and most likely an Ino vs. Sasuke. As for the Hiraishin, don't worry about Naruto getting it right away, he won't have it for a while. And when he does have it, because he'll have to filter his chakra through a seal, he'll use almost twice the amount of chakra that the Yondaime used. Even so, with his huge chakra reserves, Naruto will still be a formidable fighter. Well, more so than he is now.

Anyway, I've got a plan. I think that since Naruto is a seal master, he's gonna use seals to let Ino 'cheat'. Kinda like how the cursed seal increases the recipiant's abilities, but without the whole personality change or the psychosis or anything like that. Or I might do something different. But one thing is certain: Ino is going to be powerful. Like, Jounin level by the time the Exams start, but not as powerful as Naruto or Sandaime. Maybe equal to Kakashi when he isn't using the Sharingan. Though she won't know 1000 jutsu… anyway, I'm rambling.

Oh, and for those of you who wanted that concert scene, here it is! Think of it as an Omake, because it has nothing to do with the story line. It's more of a filler than anything else. I used "The Recluse" by Cusive, and "Hallelujah" by Jeff Buckley. These are two of my favorite songs and I suggest listening to them while reading this.

* * *

**OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE!!!!!!!!!! ******

Thursday night rolled around, and Naruto was all signed up. Ino lived up to her word and managed to drag most of the new Genin to the club. Sakura, Kiba, Hinata, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Shino had all come, but Sasuke had declined in favor of more training. The seven were chatting away at one of the larger tables, each in their own style of semi casual clothing. A few appetizers were quickly consumed, and several rounds of various drinks had disappeared. Kiba, Chouji, and surprisingly, Sakura were tipsy. Of course, being adults in the eyes of the village gave them the right to drink to their hearts content, but they had sense enough not to get raging drunk.

The small stage was revealed as the lights came on. Naruto had a white short sleeved button up shirt over a dark green shirt, a pair of blue jeans, and a pair of Doc Martin look alike shoes. A pair of dark sunglasses covered his eyes. Several other copies of him were on the various instruments spread out across the stage.

The real Naruto, the only one without an instrument, grabbed the microphone. "This song is called The Recluse"

The music started up, and Naruto opened his mouth.

"I wake, alone,

In a woman's room I hardly know

I wake, alone,

Pretend that I am finally home.

The room is littered with the books

And notebooks I imagine

What they say, like.

Shoo fly, don't bother me

And I can hardly get myself out of the bed

For fear of…

Never lying in the bed again

Oh Christ I'm Not that desperate…

Oh no, oh god, I am…

How'd I end up here to begin with?

I don't know…

Why do I start what I can't finish?

Oh please don't barrage me

With the questions

To all these lovely answers.

My ego's like my stomach, it keeps

Shitting what I feed it.

But maybe I don't wanna finish anything

Anymore

Maybe I can wait in bed 'till she comes home

And whispers 'You're in my web now

I've come… to wrap you up tight

'till it's time to bite down'

I wake, alone,

In a woman's room I hardly know

I wake, alone,

Pretend that I am finally home.

(The Recluse, by Cursive.)

The crowd was speechless, silent after the song ended. One person started clapping. Ino stood, tears in her eyes, clapping for Naruto. Soon, the others joined in, then the rest of the crowd. The applause built and built until the whole place was yelling as loud as they could! Naruto and his clones lined up at the front of the stage and bowed.

"Encore, encore!" The crowd screamed and yelled, hoping they could coerce Naruto into playing another song. With a wry smile, Naruto and his clones went back to their instruments and got ready for the next song.

A sad picking started the song, but soon, the other instruments joined in and Naruto began singing.

Well I hear there was a secret code

That David played, and it pleased the Lord

But you don't really care for music, do you?

Well it goes like this, the fourth, the fifth,

The minor fall, and the major lift

The baffled king composes Hallelujah.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Well, your faith was strong, but you needed proof

You saw her bathing on the roof

Her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you.

She tied you to her kitchen chair,

And she broke your thrown and she cut your hair

And from your lips she drew a Hallelujah.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Baby, I've been here before

I've seen this room, I've walked this floor,

I used to live alone before I knew ya

And I've seen your flag on the marble arch

Love is not a victory march,

It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Well there was a time when you let me know

What's really going on below

But now you never show that to me, do ya?

But remember when I moved in you

And the holy dove was moving too,

And every breath we drew was hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Maybe there is a god above

But all I've ever learned from love

Was how to shoot somebody who out drew ya.

And it's not a cry you hear at night

It's not somebody who's seen the light

It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

(Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley)

The clones again lined up on the front of the stage. Each of them gave a foxy smile and a wave before they all disappeared into a puff of smoke. By the time it cleared, the instruments were gone and the stage was bare. The crowd yelled louder, entertained by the trick.

"Hey, Ino, you were right about this guy!" Kiba yelled over the crowd.

"Yeah, he's pretty cool. Not as cool as Sasuke-kun, but still…" Sakura rambled.

"Troublesome, the music was too loud…" Shikamaru, of course, grumbled.

"Hmm, entertaining music does increase the taste of food…" Chouji stated.

"Music could be used as an outlet for pent up emotion. Perhaps I should speak to father about this…" Shino said.

The typically cold Hinata actually had a slight tinge to her cheeks. "He's cute…" All the others stopped and stared at her. Usually, she pointed out someone's imperfections whenever she spoke about someone, but not only did she give him a complement, she actually said he was cute. She hadn't even complemented Sasuke, voted as number one cutest guy in the class. Her eyes came back into focus and she noticed the stared.

"What?"

They all sweat dropped.

* * *

AAAAND that's it! Till next time!

Oh, and Orochimaru says that if you don't review, he'll use the Edo Tensei to summan all the previous Kages of all the Hidden Villages to destroy my story, tie me up, and tickle me until i piss myself. And then he'll go destroy Konoha.

So please, for the sake of my new pants, REVIEW!


	5. Chapter 5 V2

**(A/N)** **Please Read! Important Notes!**

I'd like to thank everyone for the reviews I've gotten. I really appreciate you guys saving me from the various enemies that try to destroy my fic. This is the second edition of this chapter, correcting some of the mistakes I've made. I got a lot of reviews complaining about some things that I'm gonna change. However, one review I got prompts a direct response.

**Stickzx: **I appreciate your concern for my fic. But, first of all, the whole guitar thing has nothing to do with the story except that it's a hobby for Naruto. That and I play the guitar too. So, while it may be stupid and cliché, it's not something that warrants such a scathing review. Seriously, if it bothers you that much, don't read my fic. It's not like I have a gun to your head, and if my story makes you throw up a little, then god dammit, don't fucking read it. End of story.

Second, even in canon, there are a lot of episodes or manga chapters that are nothing but training and have very little plot development. What I'm trying to do with these first few chapters is set a starting point for the actual fic, and orientation if you will, so that you can gage the skills of Naruto and Ino and to set the foundation for the later romantic relationship the two will have. The plot, hopefully, will start coming into being this chapter, maybe the next depending on how much inspiration I have. Seriously, if it bothers you this much, again you don't have to read it.

Third, yes I realize that Sasuke had the Sharingan activated, and yes it can see through Bunshin and Kage Bunshin, and most Genjutsu. However, like any other person, what the eyes see and what the mind perceives are two different things. So while the eye can see through illusions, Sasuke only perceived what he wanted to perceive. His eyes may have seen the Bunshin, but his mind saw a weak and defenseless girl that was in the perfect place for him to kill her and end the fight. So no matter what the eyes see, the world around us is shaped and formed by what we perceive. Optical illusions, for example, are just flat drawings, and our eyes see that. But our mind perceives something different. Why else do you think they're called optical ILLUSIONS! Again, let me re-enforce the point that if you truly find this fic distasteful, then don't fucking read it.

And Finally, I realize that I've had almost no plot development. I'm going to change that, but I'm not just going to throw you into the plot in the first chapter and not give you any background on the characters, and I find the flashback to be even more cliché than a guitar playing Naruto. Itachi and Kisame are here so that the readers can read a good fight, and also so that they can introduce the first parts of the plot I'm gonna use. It'll all come into play soon, so have patience. Then again, considering you bitched me out about some rather small things, you must not have a lot of patience. I guess not everyone is suited to be a 1337 \1\J4 like myself. You have much to learn, young padawan.

On another note, I apologize about the whole 'Measure my container' thing. I didn't check the episode where he says that, so that's completely my fault. I'm not gonna go back and change it right now, maybe some other time, but from now on, I'll use 'measure my capacity'.

So, anyway, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

Training field 10 was buzzing with activity. While there weren't very many people, they were all chatting, stretching, or brooding, depending on who you were. Most of the group of rookies and their senseis were around one of the trees by the edge of the clearing. Kiba was running around with Akamaru, laughing and playing with his puppy. Shikamaru was watching the clouds, as usual, and Chouji was eating his chips. Sakura was laughing at Kiba's antics while stealing glances at Sasuke, who was relaxing and brooding on one of the higher tree branches. Hinata was leaning against the tree trunk, eyes closed, blocking out the world. Gai was challenging Kakashi to a random event, like his prized students against the Copy Ninja's, while Kakashi was reading his book and ignoring the spandex-clad taijutsu master, who'd followed him there to try and one-up him in there little rivalry. Tenten and Lee were sparring in the middle of the field, the former throwing weapons, and the latter dodging them expertly. Asuma was smoking and trying to chat with Kurenai, who was promptly ignoring him.

Ino and Naruto simultaneously poofed into the clearing, making everyone stop in their tracks. Silence reigned for a moment while everyone stared at them, except for Sasuke, who was brooding, Hinata, who was ignoring them, and Kakashi, who was reading his book.

"Yosh! Naruto, your flames of youth have allowed your pupil to master a Jounin level technique!"

Kakashi looked up from his book and deadpanned "Eh, Gai? Did you say something?"

"AAAAGH Curse you, Kakashi, and your hip ways!" Gai exclaimed, comic tears running down his face. Lee just copied him.

'_And here I though that Kakashi was the only Copy Ninja…' _Naruto thought.

"Oi, Naruto, you just gonna stand there all day or are you and your student gonna introduce yourselves."

"Whatever, Asuma-sempai. I'm Uzumaki Naruto, 13 years old, and I'm Ino's Jounin instructor. I'm sure you all know her from the academy."

A few confirmations arose from the bunch. The only one who really said anything was Sakura.

"So, Ino, I was wondering why you got one on one instruction, but your sensei isn't even older than you. I doubt he could teach you much."

"Now now Sakura, it wouldn't be wise to insult Naruto." Asuma said, trying to reign in his student.

"Hmph. I doubt he could beat any of the other Jounin here." Said Jounin just looked at each other and burst out laughing. Kurenai was holding her side in pain; Asuma had thrown his head back and was laughing so hard tears were coming down his face. Gai was rolling on the ground, punching little craters in it from laughing so hard, and even Kakashi had dropped his precious book from the bubbling mirth.

As soon as Kakashi had stopped laughing, picked up his precious book, cleaned it up, and put it back in is pouch, he managed to choke out "Sa-Sakura, this guy was personally trained by, hah hah, the Hokage. He could probably beat Gai, Kurenai, and myself, he he he, even if we teamed up on him."

"Let's see it then." This time Sasuke has spoken up, the first words he'd said the entire time he'd been there. Hinata continued the statement. "Sharingan no Kakashi, who knows over 1,000 jutsu, our village's top Genjutsu mistress, Yuuhi Kurenai, and the number one Taijutsu expert, Maito Gai. It would take a Sannin to defeat these three as a group. If this _boy_ is as powerful as you say, it would be interesting to watch."

The challenge hung in the air, and all traces of amusement were blown away like dust in the wind. A tense silence settled over the group. Kakashi, Kurenai, and Gai shifted uncomfortably in their places as Naruto's blank mask passed over each of them in turn. They knew what lay under the mask, having heard the rumors as well as what Asuma had told them.

Finally, Naruto spoke. "While I would be more than happy to test myself against three of Konoha's best, the point of this get-together was so that you Genin could see how far you've progressed these last three months." The three Jounin relaxed and the tension disappeared.

"Hmph. Whatever. I suppose that cowards always do take the quick way out." Sasuke's words had barely faded when the killing intent Naruto sent out startled him out of the tree, though no one laughed at his face plant. What was surprising was its source.

"Uchiha Sasuke, you take that back! Naruto-kun is way better than you'll ever be! In fact, I bet that he's a better teacher than yours too! I bet _I_ could beat you one-on-one."

Hinata snorted and was about to speak when her knees collapsed from the intense killing intent Ino sent at her. Naruto, seemingly amused by the scene, turned to Asuma and said "Perhaps we have our first match."

"Y-yeah. Ino, Sasuke, go to the center of the field. First up, Ino versus Sasuke!"

When the two got to the center of the field and faces off, Asuma yelled "Start!" The two didn't move. An intense staring match started, neither one blinking, spikes of killing intent filling the air. A bead of sweat rolled down Ino's brow, but she dared not wipe it away for fear of Sasuke attacking while she was distracted.

Suddenly, Ino brought her hands up into the ram seal, and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Sasuke's eyes widened before he whirled around and saw another cloud of smoke. Ino's fist came flying out of the cloud, narrowly missing Sasuke's head. Sasuke stepped back, but Ino wasn't giving him the room to react. The fists kept coming, although none landed since Sasuke kept dodging. Then, Sasuke stumbled over a small rock sticking out of the ground. It wasn't enough to knock him down, but it did make him loose his balance and open his guard. Ino saw this and took the chance. She dropped her stance a little bit and solidly struck Sasuke's stomach with all her strength behind the blow. The black haired boy coughed and nearly doubled over from the force. But Ino wasn't done yet. Her other hand came up and rammed the heel of her hand into Sasuke's chin, sending the boy into the air. Ino jumped up after him, and just as Sasuke reached the apex of his flight, Ino's elbow slammed down onto the boy's nose. A distinctive crack was heard throughout the training ground, and from the blood running down the boy's face, his nose was broken. Sasuke hit the ground hard, and while Ino landed right next to him, she quickly rolled away.

Sasuke groaned slightly, but still managed to roll over and get to his feet. He quickly located his adversary, who was flashing through some hand signs. "Ninpo: Bringer of Darkness no jutsu." The world turned black, no light, no sound, no feeling, nothing. It was like his senses were shut down.

'_Shit, genjutsu!'_ Sasuke flared his chakra and yelled "Sharingan!" The two tomoe in each eye allowed him to instantly assess the jutsu and break its hold on him. He spotted Ino running at him, full speed. He didn't react at first, still pretending to be underneath the genjutsu's control by pretending to look around frantically, as if he couldn't see. As Ino's fist was about to slam into the side of his head, Sasuke ducked. Ino overbalanced, expecting Sasuke's head to provide some resistance and keep her in balance. Sasuke's elbow slammed into her gut, doubling her over. Ino coughed and a few droplets of blood flew out onto the ground. Sasuke raised his leg and brought his heel down on the back of Ino's head, knocking her to the ground. She rolled before he could strike her again, and quickly jumped back to her feet.

Again, the two stared at each other. Ino noted the color change of his eyes. _'Damn, he has the Sharingan. Shit… it's down to this, huh.'_

On the outside, Ino looked calm and collected, despite her nervousness at facing the legendary Doujutsu. "Let's finish this with one final jutsu." She said, praying it would work.

Sasuke smirked and flashed through three hand signs. He grabbed his wrist and yelled "Chidori!" The Copy Cat Ninja's sole unique jutsu flared to life in his student's hand. The loud chirping noise filled the air.

"Kakashi, why the fuck is Sasuke using an A-class assassination jutsu in a spar, let alone with a fellow Leaf Ninja!" Naruto yelled. "If he so much as scratches my student with that monstrosity, I swear I'll Rasengan his ass to the Hokage Monument and back!"

"I'm sure Sasuke can explain his actions. He wouldn't really use that jutsu on a comrade." Kakashi weakly answered.

Ino took advantage of Sasuke's momentary pause to start her own hand seals. The Avenger's eyes narrowed and he charged at the blonde girl, letting the Chidori tear a long rut in the ground as he rushed her.

"Doton: Earth Wall no jutsu!" Ino slammed her hands onto the ground and a ten foot tall solid stone wall erupted from the earth between her and Sasuke. The Sharingan user sped up and thrust his hand at the wall. The Chidori tore a huge hole in the wall, big enough for Sasuke's body to slip through. He didn't let the technique disperse, and instead located his opponent, finding her still on her knees, her hands still flat on the ground.

"SHIT!" Naruto took off, trying to get to the Genin before the technique could land. Sasuke pulled his hand back as Ino jumped up and tried to dodge. Her foot slipped on a small patch of blood from Sasuke's nose from when she broke it. Sasuke thrust his hand through her gut, simultaneously yelling "CHIDORI!"

Everyone froze. The Uchiha had a superior smirk on his face, no remorse, no fear, just simple pleasure at winning the match. "Sasuke… what have you done?" Kakashi whispered to himself. Kurenai, Asuma, and Gai rushed to get to the injured blonde, hoping to get her to the hospital before she died.

Ino raised her head to stare into Sasuke's eyes. She smirked. Again, everyone froze. After all, how many mortally wounded ninja smirk? Then, Ino disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Sasuke gasped, and whipped around, looking for his opponent. He didn't see the hand that burst from the ground and grabbed his ankle. With a quick tug, Ino pulled her opponent down until he chin rested solidly on the ground. She popped up behind him, pulled out a kunai and put it against his throat.

"I win." Sasuke's shocked expression was priceless. So priceless, in fact, that Naruto pulled a camera from a plot hole and took a picture… or twenty.

Suddenly, Kurenai started chuckling. Her chuckle swelled into laughter, until her head was thrown back and she was all but falling over from laughter. "T-the legendary S-sh-sharingan, fooled by a BUNSHIN!" Soon the other Jounin joined them, to add insult to injury. Sasuke was red in the face, struggling against the earth that imprisoned him.

Naruto chuckled a little bit, though his mirth was drowned out by the raucous laughter of not only the Jounin, but many of the Genin there, save for Sakura, who wouldn't dare do anything to hurt her chances with Sasuke, even if they were non-existent. But Ino noticed. "Good job, Ino-chan."

Sasuke, not one to take a loss well, especially to a girl he considered weaker than himself, managed to pull himself out of the ground. He pulled a kunai and with an enraged battle cry, jumped at the blonde kunoichi. Ino turned at the sound, but at the sight of Sasuke's kunai closing in at her, she froze.

'_So, this is how it ends…' _She closed her eyes in resignation, waiting for the blow to strike. _'Gomen nasai, Naruto-kun.'_

But the blow never hit. "Foolish little brother. True Uchiha do not strike at an opponent while their back is turned." Uchiha Itachi held back his brother's hand. "To think that the Uchiha clan has fallen so low. You are truly weak."


	6. Chapter 6

"Itachi!" Sasuke tried to pull his hand back, but Itachi wouldn't let go. "You are not a worthy measurement for my capacity. Give my regards to Mother." Itachi twisted Sasuke's wrist, almost snapping the bones, and tried to thrust the kunai in Sasuke's own hand into his little brother's neck, only to find that he couldn't move.

"Shadow Bind, success." Shikamaru, still near the edge of the clearing, was holding the ram sign, a line of shadow connecting to the S-class missing Nin's. "Ino, get Sasuke and run! Chouji, help her get him to the hospital. Everyone else, come with me. We've gotta go get help." They nodded, as Shikamaru started sweating because of the exertion of holding such a powerful foe at bay. Ino had barely gotten Sasuke away before the shadow broke. Chouji was quick to rush to her aid, throwing Sasuke's body unceremoniously against a nearby tree and taking Ino on his back into the dense foliage. The other Genin were quick to disperse, heading back to the village in separate directions so that even if a few were caught, more would be able to raise the alarm. None of them bothered to take Sasuke with them.

Kisame landed next to Itachi while the other Jounin grouped around Naruto. "Uchiha Itachi, S-class missing-nin, member of Akatsuki, partnered with Hoshigake Kisame, S-class missing-nin, also a member of Akatsuki, hunting down the Nine-Tailed Fox. I'm sure this isn't a social visit."

"Uzumaki Naruto, A-class Jounin, container of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, personal apprentice to the Sandaime Hokage, perfect mission record, and a Grand Seal Master. And no, we didn't stop by for tea."

"Shame, really. Guys, you take care of Shark-boy, I'll take Itachi."

The four other Jounin gave some sort of affirmation, and attacked Kisame. Itachi and Naruto leaped away to clear some room for their own fight.

"So, you are the one that has supposedly surpassed me while I was in Konoha. You will be an appropriate measure for my capacity."

Naruto chose not to respond with words, instead dashing at his foe. Itachi dodged the fist aimed at his face, but failed to see Naruto's elbow that slammed into the side of his head from the same arm he dodged. Caught off balance, he was easy pray to the cross over uppercut Naruto threw at him. It was only the intervention of his Sharingan that allowed him to anticipate the attack and dodge out of the way.

The two jumped away from each other. An intense stare down lasted for a whole 3 seconds before they both started hand seals.

"Katon: Karyu Endan!" their two voices yelled in unison. Two intensely hot flame dragons clashed together. Naruto's was quickly overpowered, and where Naruto stood before was nothing more than a burning patch of grass. Itachi narrowed his eyes. Something was off about that scene.

Naruto burst out of the ground behind the Akatsuki member. A quick kunai to the head dispersed the Itachi clone. A ninjato slashed through Naruto's middle, causing that clone to disperse as well. Itachi dodged a gust of wind, but his sword wasn't so lucky, being split in half just above the guard. He threw the useless hilt away and responded with a flurry of fireballs from where the attack had come from. He heard another poof, and whirled around to catch Naruto's wrist, barely stopping the Rasengan he was holding from hitting him. Naruto let the Rasengan explode, sending the two in opposite directions. Itachi was slammed against a tree, the front of his robes was tattered, but there wasn't much blood. It seems that Itachi had taken to wearing ANBU armor underneath his Akatsuki robes. Naruto was mostly alright, but his hand was bleeding quite a bit, and from the strange angle his fingers made, they were broken.

Naruto calmly snapped his fingers back into place, mentally thanking Kyuubi for his regenerative powers. By the time Itachi had risen to his feet, Naruto's hand was almost healed.

"Mangekyou Sharingan." Itachi's three tomoe Sharingan transformed into the final stage, the Mangekyou. _'Shit' _Naruto thought. _'Kyuubi, I need some power if I'm gonna beat him.'_

'**Your wish is my command.'** Kyuubi's sarcastic remark didn't help with Naruto's mood, but the three tails of power sent his way stopped him from responding. His body started glowing with the chakra shroud, and three waving translucent tails appeared behind him. Though they were covered by his mask, Naruto's eyes shifted to that of the fox's, and his whisker marks lengthened. With a roar of fury, Naruto dashed at Itachi, claws extended. Naruto's swipe missed, Itachi ducking underneath the blow and slapping a piece of paper onto Naruto's gut.

Itachi slammed his fist into Naruto's jaw with a vicious uppercut. He sent Naruto flying across the field with a well placed kick. The seal on the tag glowed brightly and the malevolent chakra disappeared. The ground managed to stop Naruto's momentum, but a small trench was cut into the soil.

"That seal will keep your tenant quiet. Your only choice is to come with me."

Naruto chuckled quietly, slowly getting to his feet. From the way his breath was labored and the fact that he held his side, some of his ribs must be broken.

"Don't think you've won yet."

"Oh, but I have. Your chakra is almost depleted, your tenant's is being repressed, all thanks to that seal, and on top of that, you're injured. Without the demon's power, your regenerative powers won't work. You have no choice."

"No. I have one other."

Itachi froze, his eyes following Naruto's hand as it reached for his mask. The blank ANBU mask was dropped onto the ground, next to Naruto. His blonde hair was held back by a hitai ate, of course with the Leaf symbol. Three whisker marks adorned his cheeks, which didn't quite hold the roundness of a boyish face, but wasn't quite to the point where it could be called manly. His eyes were closed.

"I have no choice but to use this. I can see your future, and your future is _death_!" With the final word, Naruto opened his eyes. With a pulse of chakra, Naruto's Sesshougan met Itachi's Mangekyou Sharingan.

Itachi let out an inhuman scream. His hands clutched at his eyes as he stumbled around, finally falling to the ground and writhing like a snake in its death throes. After a minute of pure torture, Itachi stilled, panting quickly. During all of this, Naruto had calmly put his mask back on.

"My eyes! What have you done to my eyes!" Itachi turned to face Naruto, who had expected Itachi to be a corpse by now. "My Mangekyou Sharingan, what have you done to it!" Indeed, Itachi's eyes were back to the three tomoe Sharingan that all fully developed Uchiha have.

"I know how the Mangekyou Sharingan is formed. You must kill your closest friend to get it. Yours was Uchiha Shisui. When you drowned him, the bond you had with him forced his soul to inhabit your eyes. Your Mangekyou Sharingan is the soul of your closest friend. And I removed that soul. Your Mangekyou is gone."

* * *

Asuma and Gai leaped at the shark-man. Asuma went high with his trench knives, while Gai went low with a sweeping kick. The both connected, but Kisame burst into a pool of water, indicating that they were fighting a Mizu Bunshin.

"We need to form a strategy, but I don't think we can take him alone. Kurenai, come with me, we're going to get some help. Asuma, Gai, hold him off." Kakashi spiked his chakra twice in quick succession, then once more, slightly longer in duration. It was a classic Jounin signal for 'lie'. Meaning that Kakashi and Kurenai were going to retreat into the woods until the opportune time to counter attack.

"Roger!" the three other Jounin shouted, spiking their chakra once in return, indicating that they understood the deception. Kurenai followed Kakashi as he leaped into the trees. Soon, their presences disappeared totally.

"Oh? What's this? Your teammates left you here to die. Whatever happened to Konoha's infamous teamwork? Tut tut… No matter. It'll just make killing you that much easier." Kisame practically gloated. He was right, of course. Asuma and Gai couldn't take him alone, since they were both close range fighters, while Kisame was a short to mid range fighter. He had the advantage, despite being outnumbered. Kisame's sword counteracted Asuma's chakra enhances blades, and would most likely drain almost all the extra chakra Gai would get from opening his gates. Granted, it couldn't take it all at once, but in the end, Gai would be worse off after than he would without the boost.

Asuma located the shark-like man, standing near the edge of the clearing, and charged. Gai took the opportunity to remove all the weights he had on him, hoping the advantage would be enough.

Asuma slashed high, trying to behead the Akatsuki member, but Samehada intervened, disrupting the wind chakra and blocking the steel blade. With a quick spin, Asuma brought his other hand around, trying to stab the man in the side. Kisame adjusted the angle his sword was at and again blocked.

"Dainamiku Entori!" Gai's foot flew at the blue man's head. Kisame ducked underneath the kick. Recovering quickly, he swung his sword around. Gai dodged, but Asuma had a small chunk of his leg shaved off. Asuma stumbled and fell to one knee. Samehada was raised over Kisame's head. Gai's eyes widened and he dove at the other Jounin, knocking him out of the way. Fortunately, the strike completely missed the two.

Gai rolled to his feet, watching Kisame carefully so he wouldn't take advantage of Asuma's attempts at standing. A twig snapped. Kisame whirled around, looking at the source of the sound.

"Shadow bind, success." Shikamaru stood under the shade of one of the huge trees, using it's sprawling shadow to extend his own, connecting it with Kisame's, holding the shark-man in place. Asuma and Gai took advantage of this. With a lightning quick kick, Gai's shin collided with the side of Kisame's leg, shattering his knee. Kisame's cries of pain were silenced by Asuma's wind enhanced trench knife, loping off the creature's head. Shikamaru released the jutsu, and Kisame's body collapsed to the ground. The blood spurting out of the dead ninja's neck revealed it to be the man's true body. Kakashi walked out from behind the tree and rested his hand on Shikamaru's shoulder.

"Good job. Thank you for coming back to help us."

"Meh. I'd have been too troublesome to let these two go unchecked."

Kakashi nodded. He turned to the two Jounin inspecting the body. "Gai, take Asuma to the hospital. I'll take the body to the morgue to get it inspected. Shikamaru, head back to the village and get the ANBU here. Dismissed!"

* * *

Naruto dashed at Itachi, snapping off a few kicks. Without the super-enhanced prediction abilities of the Mangekyou, Itachi couldn't block the incredibly fast attacks. By the time Naruto broke off the attack and jumped away, both of Itachi's arms hung useless at his sides, and his right knee couldn't support his weight. Naruto dashed at the man again and with a quick chop to the neck, knocked him out. Grabbing his hair, he dragged the unconscious man over to the tree where Sasuke was knocked out against. Naruto pulled a small vial out from one of his hidden pockets, uncorked it, and waved it underneath the Last Uchiha's nose.

Sasuke shot awake, looking around frantically. He grunted in pain as he tried to move his severely sprained wrist, finding it unusable. His eyes darted around, landing on the unconscious form of his brother.

"Uchiha Sasuke, I know you want revenge on your brother. This is the only chance you'll get."

"I wanted to fight him at his fullest. I wanted to beat him before I killed him."

"You were beaten to it. The ANBU are probably on their way, and they will execute him on the spot. Your only chance to kill him by your own hand is to do it now." Naruto pulled a kunai out and offered it to Sasuke, hilt first. The boy frowned, but took it anyway. Steeling himself, he stood and approached Itachi.

With a quick slice, Itachi's throat was split open, is blood pooling in the grass. Sasuke stared at the hand covered in his brother's blood. He was shaking slightly, and a lone tear slid down his face.

"The first time is always the hardest. It's not what you thought it would be, is it?" Naruto asked. "Even though you hated him with a passion, for a good reason, too, it wasn't enough to let you just shake it off. The fact that you still feel guilty, that his death still affects your proves that you are still human. Now that you don't have his shadow over your head, things will make a turn for the better for you. Besides, now you can work on your other goal: rebuilding your clan." Naruto's smirk was hidden by his mask. It wasn't every day you saw the Last Uchiha blushing, was it?

"Yeah… I guess you're right." Sasuke wiped his hand on the corpse's black cloak.

"I hope this means that you won't use a deadly jutsu on a fellow Konoha ninja in the future. If you dare do that again, I'll personally rip your arms off. Understand?"

"Perfectly."

The rest of the day was rather uneventful. The ANBU and Hunter nin cleaned up the mess and took care of most of the paperwork. Sasuke got a huge bounty for landing the killing blow on Itachi, although Naruto took a good sized portion for his own involvement. Shikamaru also got a sizeable bank account for his involvement in Kisame's defeat. The rest of Kisame's bounty was split between Asuma, Gai, Kurenai, and Kakashi. Even split five ways, there was still more than enough for each of them to retire on, though they chose not to, opting to continue their shinobi careers. The best part of it all was that Sasuke started breaking out of his shell. He even started smiling, laughing, and (wonder of wonders) telling jokes. Who knows, maybe his future did take a turn for the better…

* * *

Sorry for my tardiness! I apologise for the late update. I would have posted sooner, but a few bad reviews left me rather discouraged. I know I havn't really introduced the plot, but I do have an idea for what I want to do. I know that many of you are dissapointed with Kisame and Itachi's deaths, but I needed a way to get Akatsuki off of Naruto's back for a while, and what better way than to remove those two? And I have a few ideas that'll take care of Kyuubi too. Most of the plot will really come into play after the Chuunin Exams, and i'll do a few time skips to get there, so please bear with me. Also, I feel that Ino needs a major boost in power, so i'm gonna do something about that too. It'll polly be very Mary-Sue-ish, but the end results are necessary. So, yeah... I encorage you to keep reading, and your review help out a ton. Well, the good ones anyway. Enough rambling. Until next time!


	7. Chapter 7

Hey guys. I decided to do something a little different with my story. I started planning my chapters out, instead of just writing whatever came to mind. There will be alot more plot progression for each chapter, so that'll help you who have been complaining about that, and as you can see, it's my longest chapter yet, almost 6000 words. WOW! And it only took me three days to write, well, between my classes and work.

Anyway, i hope this satisfies all you avid readers. Not a whole lot of action, but quite a few changes. Mostly, it's the fallout of the last chapter, but i hopefully got a bit of character development. Especially with Sasuke. Oh, and there's a mystery brewing, too. Anyway, i won't spoil it for you. GO READ!

* * *

Sasuke sat on one of the more sturdy limbs of a tree that grew near one of the training grounds within the confines of the Uchiha complex. Brooding now more than ever before, he tried to sort a few things out.

'_My goal is complete. I may not have accomplished it like I had wanted, but the deed is done. My brother is dead. What do I do now? I suppose I should try to re-build my clan… but those god-awful fan girls are far too weak to even be considered as an option. Gah, enough of that.' _Sasuke sighed, shifting to a more comfortable position.

'_My whole reason for becoming stronger is gone. I don't have someone I need to beat, so why should I train? I understand my commitment to the defense of Konoha and her citizens, since I am one of her shinobi, but really, there is nothing for me here. Maybe… I shouldn't have been quite so distant to the other students at the academy, no matter how annoying they are. None hold me in high esteem, especially after yesterday. I… overstepped my boundaries. I realize I had no right to use that jutsu on my opponent, but… I became obsessed with winning. I saw the spar as a test, and I was losing. I couldn't even beat my brother, although Uzumaki-san did allow me to take his life by my own hands. Still… why do I feel like this? My brother was a monster in human skin, so why do I feel guilty?' _

He shook his head to clear his train of thought. _'The rebuilding of the Uchiha clan is what I'll work for. I suppose if worst comes to the worst, I could always impregnate a few fan girls. Maybe one would bear a strong child. Doubtful… In any case, I need to search for a strong woman, one who would bear strong children. Hopefully one that I could like as well. If I have to marry her, we should at least be able to work together. Maybe… I could even love her. It would be too much to ask, but there is always hope.'_

Sasuke turned his eyes to the pale half moon that hung overhead. On a cloudless night like this, it seemed like he could reach out and grasp it…

* * *

Naruto slept fitfully that night. Tossing and turning in his bed, he couldn't seem to get to sleep or stay asleep for long. With a sigh, he threw off his warm comforter, despite the cold seeping in from the open window. Settling himself cross legged on his bed, he began to meditate. Slowing his breathing and calming his mind usually helped him get to sleep.

_Drip…drip…drip._

The sound of water droplets splashing into a puddle made him open his eyes. The sewer-like scene of his mindscape confused him for a second. Then he felt the pull. This wasn't the first time that the fox had ruined his sleep just to start a conversation. With a sigh, he followed the winding sewer paths until he came to the large room. The ominous cage that held the Kyuubi still amazed him every time he saw it, despite the malevolent red eyes that hovered just behind the bars.

**Human, I am disappointed by your progress. Or rather, your lack of it.**

Naruto rolled his eyes. **Do not mock me, whelp. Even behind this cage, I am still more powerful than you. Your weakness is a poor reflection onto my skills. If I had not already improved upon your weak human body, you would have been killed in your last fight. You cannot yet stand alone against the most powerful humans, let alone two or more of them together. I demand that you use 'it'. **

"No. Using 'it' would not help me gain power. It will hinder me in the long run. One must work for the power they wish to gain, and using 'it' would be cheating."

**You developed 'it', did you not? You spend months constructing it, refining it, and learning how to use it. You did work for it, and yet you refuse to use it. Even after you use it, you would still have to spend time to adapt to it. You are being a fool. **

"… if I have reason to become stronger, I will."

**You already have a reason! Or have you forgotten about the Akatsuki? Those two may have been the first, but they won't be the last. What will you do when they send you on a mission? It will be you and your 'partner', no one else around. Could you take them both on? Could that girl hold her own? You know the answer. She would die, and they would capture you. Do you honestly think that you could survive without 'it'? With 'it', you could possibly fight me to a draw, if not win. No one could ever kill you, and you know it, as long as you had 'it'. What to I have to do to stress the importance of the situation? Do you not see the danger you are in? Pathetic whelp, you refuse to take action to prevent your own demise, and I will not just stand by while you let your death happen. Do you understand?**

"…yes, I understand. But 'it' still has one flaw, and you know unless I find a worthy material to use, 'it' would be temporary at best, and would not work at worst. Until I find something that could work, there is nothing I can do. You know this."

**Your father was considered the strongest shinobi in the world. Tales of his exploits spread through the Elemental Nations, instilling fear into his enemies, giving comfort to his friends. Why do you think I attacked Konoha in the first place? Imagine the climactic battle, the strongest Demon and the strongest Human, locked in mortal combat. It was to be a fight for the ages. Even though it cost him his life, your father defeated me. Why not use 'it' in his honor? I know that if you just try, you can find something that will work for 'it', **

**Very well, whelp. The minute you do find something, you will do as I said. Then you **_**will**_** use 'it'. In the mean time, your apprentice, though strong compared to the others of her age, is even weaker than you. Make her strong. There are many techniques that you could teacher to her, but now is the time to introduce her to her elemental affinity. Work on that skill with her. Go. We will talk again in the future.**

With a start, Naruto jolted out of his meditation induced trance. Looking around slightly dazedly, he wondered what, besides the Kyuubi no longer wishing to talk to him, could have shaken him out of it.

_Knock Knock Knock_

Ah, that was it. Someone was at the door. Naruto stood and pulled on a pair of sweat pants. He didn't know who could be at his door at… he glanced at his clock… 4 in the morning, but he wasn't going to answer in his boxers.

He took the mask that hung on a peg near the front door and donned it. It wouldn't do to let his Doujutsu knock someone out before he even got a chance to talk to them. Carefully, he cracked the door open.

Ino stood right outside. "Um… can I come in?"

"… Yeah, hold on a sec." Naruto closed the door and undid the chain that prevented the door from being forced open. He pulled the door wide and stepped aside, motioning Ino inside. She obliged.

Ino almost gawked at how clean the place was. Any other 13 year old living alone would have the place a practical pig sty, but Naruto's apartment was relatively neat. Oh, it wasn't as clean as her mother liked her house to be, nor was it completely spotless, but it certainly was a lot cleaner than even her room. Naruto lead her into the kitchen, sitting her at the table while he put on some coffee. "Have you slept at all tonight, Ino?" he asked.

"… um, not really. I… couldn't stop thinking. I heard about your fight. You took Uchiha Itachi on practically single handedly. It got me thinking. I know that you've made me pretty much the strongest out of my graduating class, but I'm nowhere near your level. I… I want to be stronger."

"Ah. I see." Taking the full coffee pot, he poured himself a cup. "Would you like some coffee?" Ino shook her head in the negative. Naruto shrugged and set his own down on the table before seating himself.

After a moment, he asked "Ino… why do you want to be strong."

_So that I can be with you… so that I don't have to hold you back… so that we can be partners, equals, maybe even… _Ino shook her head. "I… I don't know. I…" she trailed off.

"Do you have someone important to you? Someone who you consider precious?" Naruto's query made Ino blush, but she nodded anyway. "One can only be strong if they have someone they want to protect. Strength may be measured by rank, by how many jutsu you can do, by how many people you can defeat, or many other ways. But true strength comes from determination. If there is something you cannot afford to loose, you will do anything to protect it. Even if it means your death, you will protect it. Loyalty to the village, to your friends, to your leader, desire for revenge, hate, a desire to be better than someone else, many people grow strong for these reasons. None of them are truly strong. A ninja will fight hard to protect his village, but if someone threatens his family, no one can stand against him and walk away unscathed. A kunoichi may fight her hardest to keep the Hokage safe, but if you threaten her child, no one can stand in her way." He paused and took a gulp of his rapidly cooling coffee. "So, Ino, do you have someone you would dedicate your life to, if only to keep them from harm?"

Unhesitantly, she nodded.

"Good." Naruto finished the lukewarm drink. "Tomorrow, we'll start the next phase of your training. For now, go get some sleep. I'll wake you in a few hours."

"Um… aren't you going to get some sleep?"

"No. This coffee will keep me up anyway. I'm gonna go train. In the mean time, why don't you use my bed?"

"O-okay." Her slight stutter corresponded to her blush. After all, Naruto practically invited her to his bed, although he won't be in it. Out of no where, Ino yawned. Naruto chuckled as he said "Let's get you to bed, shall we?"

Ino's blush deepened, even as she allowed him to help her stand and escorted her into his room. Naruto rummaged through his drawers and pulled out a copy of his typical outfit and set it aside. Continuing his search, he found a pair of loose shirts and an oversized t-shirt.

"You can wear these to bed. They'll probably be more comfortable than your dress and… err… wrappings" he said as he handed her said items. By this point, Ino was too tired to truly blush. In her fatigue-clouded mind, she started undressing. Naruto, not wanting to incur her wrath when she remembered what she did the next morning, high tailed it out of the room, scooping up his own change of cloths on the way out. After a quick shower, Naruto re-entered his room, finding Ino sprawled across the bed.

Chuckling, Naruto took his comforter off the floor and gently spread it over her. Smiling to himself, unseen because of his mask, he tucked her in. Just before he walked out of the room, he took one last look at her. He whispered to himself. "Goodnight, Ino-chan."

* * *

Sandaime Hokage sat behind his desk, silently brooding, puffing on his favorite pipe. It was still quite early in the morning, around 7 or 8 or so. What troubled him was the important meeting he had, only half an hour away.

Although Naruto stated that, as Ino's sensei, that he did not want Sasuke to go unpunished for his actions during the spar, he also said that he didn't feel that the situation called for extreme punishment. Due to the nature of an Apprenticeship, the Genin in question did not have to participate in any D-ranked missions. Naruto suggested that he should improve relations between the students in his graduating class by participating in said D-ranked missions with them. The only other thing he requested was that Sasuke apologize to Ino for his actions against her. Other than that, the council was free to mete out any other punishments they saw fit.

Taking another puff of his pipe, he glanced at the clock. Sandaime sighed before standing up and walking out of his office. It was time for the council session.

"Uchiha Sasuke. You have been summoned here today in regards to your actions against a fellow Leaf ninja during what was supposed to be a friendly spar." Hyuuga Hiashi had been elected the spokesperson of the Council. Continuing, he said "Multiple eye-witnesses stated that you attempted to use deadly force against one Yamanaka Ino. Sharingan no Kakashi's unique jutsu, the Chidori, is classified as an A-rank _assassination _jutsu for a reason. It is a jutsu means solely for quickly killing an opponent. It is not something that should be used so lightly in a spar, especially against one of your comrades. Do have anything to say in your own defense?"

Sasuke took a deep breath, as if ready to start a long speech to defend himself, but decided against such and action. "No, Honorable Council" was his response.

Hiashi hmm-ed and sat down. The Sandaime stood to deliver his own little speech. "Although the infraction is quite severe, Ino's sensei, Uzumaki Naruto, has told me that, while he did not want Sasuke to go unpunished, he did not want a far too extreme punishment. Therefore, he suggested a few miner stipulations." Sandaime took a small scroll from his pocket, unfurled it, and began reading. "He suggested that Sasuke participate in some of the D-ranked missions the rest of his graduating class must do on a regular basis, to improve teamwork and to become familiar with the other Genin in his generation. He will most likely be working with them in the future, so it would be best. The second thing he suggested was that Sasuke formally apologize to his student for his actions against her, saying it will be a lesson in humility and will help establish good relations between said Genin so that they may work together in the future without tension between the two. And third, he suggested that Sasuke take on a hobby, to help release tension that tends to build up from the shinobi lifestyle."

Clearing his throat and stepping down, he gracefully sat at his own place. The council whispered amongst themselves for a few moments. Hiashi again stood. "The council has agreed with said terms, all three of them, and wishes to impose two more. Reparations between himself and Yamanaka-san would be sped along through monetary compensation. A peace offering, if you will. Also, since the Uchiha clan is now at one surviving member, we suggest a choice to you. You must be married or at least engaged by the time you turn 16. Should you fail, the council will arrange a marriage. Also, once you are able to father children, you will regularly donate so that we may artificially inseminate a few willing mothers to speed up the revival of the Uchiha clan. Is this acceptable to you, Sandaime-sama?"

Sarutobi thought it over for a moment. After a moment of deep contemplation, he said "These stipulations are within reasonable limits. Then it shall be so."

Hiashi again started speaking. "You are dismissed, Uchiha-san. Do not repeat your actions, or the next time, your punishment will not be so mild. Dismissed."

Kakashi, who had been waiting in the wings, stepped forward and lead a very tired looking Sasuke outside. However, as soon as they left, the council started another discussion.

"Hokage-sama, with the recent death of Uchiha Itachi, there are only two Sharingan users in Konoha. Since we have recovered Itachi's head, we have two excess Sharingan eyes. We have all seen the wonders the Sharingan has done for Hatake Kakashi, so why don't we make use of these two eyes and create two more Sharingan users?" Of course, it was none other than Danzo who had stated this.

The council began furiously whispering amongst themselves. Hiashi stepped forward. "While this would indubitably increase our fighting power, how long would it be until you start taking Byakugan eyes from our dead? I cannot let this infringement of bloodline secrecy to take place."

"Ah, but the difference is that there are still many Hyuuga willing to use their Doujutsu for the sake of our village. And, as previously stated, there are only two Sharingan users. This would increase it to four. While still not as numerous as you Hyuuga, it would help our ninja." Again, Danzo made a compelling argument.

"This is all well and good, but who would we chose to receive the Sharingan eyes? It would not do to place that kind of power within any of the clans, as I'm sure you all would agree that we would use it to our own gains. But who could we give it to?" Inuzuka Tsume brought up a good point.

Sandaime stood and spoke. "I know of two people that I would trust with my life. They would be perfect candidates for the eye. Uzuki Yuugao has been a member of the ANBU for almost two years now, and her service record is nearly flawless. She is kind hearted and brave, loyal to a fault, and is on friendly terms with Kakashi, whom I assume you would have teach the recipients of the eyes." When the rest of the council nodded, almost simultaneously, he continued. "The other person who I believe would be a good candidate has spent years loyally serving Konoha as a Chuunin. His excellent work as been very beneficial to the safety and security of Konoha. He and Kakashi are on friendly terms with each other, occasionally drinking together. Therefore, I feel that Umino Iruka would be the best candidate for a Sharingan implant."

Many of the council nodded at the logic Sandaime showed. Neither person had any affiliation with a major or minor clan, serving only Konoha and the Hokage. Both had served with nearly spotless records in their respective positions and were loyal to a fault. And best of all, they were both on good terms with Konoha's resident Sharingan expert, Hatake Kakashi.

The director of the hospital stood. "I am confident that my best surgeons can perform the transplant, as long as the eyes have been properly preserved. However, I though that Hatake-san was already teaching Uchiha-san how to use his Sharingan."

Danzo took the floor. "Yes, what will we do about Uchiha-san if Hatake-san is busy with two new students?"

Sandaime stood. "I believe that my apprentice would not be adverse to taking on another student. You have seen how he has helped Yamanaka-san. While she was average in the academy, it has only been three months and she outwitted and out fought Uchiha-san, who was the Rookie of the Year. Uchiha-san would do well under his tutelage."

"Then it is settled. Now, on to other things…."

* * *

Naruto got back from his training just as the sun peaked over the rooftop of the neighboring building. With a sigh, he made his way to his bathroom. After a quick shower, he slipped into his room, using all of his ninja skills to avoid waking Ino. Grabbing a new change of cloths, he returned to his bathroom and got dressed. Returning to his bedroom, he approached his bed where Ino lay sleeping. Gently nudging her in an attempt to wake her, Ino merely rolled over. After a few more attempts, Naruto got frustrated and shook her shoulder rather roughly. Ino groggily sat up, muttering "I'm up, I'm up, geeze…"

"Ino, it's time to start your training. We've got a lot of work to do to make you stronger, but you gotta get out of bed first."

Ino threw off the blanket and literally jumped out of bed. She landed softly, rolled, sprang up, turned to face Naruto, and pulled off a sharp salute. "OSSU!" The shorts she wore were little more than boxers, showing off her well shaped legs (courtesy of her ninja training). The oversized t-shirt had slipped off of one shoulder, revealing that Ino was not wearing anything underneath it. The top of her breast was also visible, mainly because of the loose collar. Naruto's blush would have brought a laugh from Ino, if she could have seen it, but the mask he almost constantly wore

Shaking himself out of his (rather perverted) thoughts, Naruto motioned Ino over to his closet. Flinging the door open, he reached in and pulled out an outfit vaguely similar to his own, if a little worn.

"I out grew this almost a year ago, so it should fit you just fine. It's far more durable than that flimsy dress you usually wear, not to mention that it offers a lot more protection. ANBU wear this armor for a reason. Although it won't completely stop most blades or jutsu, it'll drastically reduce the damage you sustain. For example, if I wore about 5 of these under a Jounin vest, it'll probably stop a Chidori… well, at Sasuke's level, anyway. Anyway, I wanted to give this to you until I can take you shopping for some appropriate ninja clothing. Put it on, I'll wait outside."

"Thank you, Naruto-k… sensei." Naruto's smirk was, again, hidden by his mask. He stepped out of the room anyway.

After a moment or two, Ino emerged from the Ramen Lair… err, I mean Naruto's bedroom. (Sorry about the bad Batman reference, if highly twisted…)

"So… how do I look?"

"Like a serious kunoichi. Now you're ready to _really_ start training. Let's get going." Naruto sped out of the house, Ino hot on his trail.

* * *

"Most Jounin sensei only teach their students a taijutsu style, some offensive and defensive jutsu, and maybe some genjutsu, as well as proper Ninja etiquette, how to deliver a mission debriefing, and filling in the gaps that the Academy couldn't cover. However, since I feel that you're already fighting at Chuunin level, I'm going to teach you a skill that generally isn't introduced to a ninja until they're almost ready to become Jounin. Today, you'll learn how to manipulate Elemental Chakra."

"Sensei, what is elemental chakra?"

"Well, each person has one of five elements that their chakra can emulate. They are Earth, Water, Wind, Fire, and Lightning. They act kind of like rock, paper, and scissors, meaning that some are more effective against others, but weak against others. For example, Wind is weak against fire, which is weak against water, which is weak against earth, which is weak against lightning, which is weak against wind. I am wind natured. Meaning, I can do this." Naruto waved his hand as if brushing away an annoying insect. The gust of wind formed razor sharp blades that sliced clean through a few trees on the edge of the training ground. Ino's jaw hit the floor.

"H-how did you do that?"

"I made my chakra emulate and affect wind. Since wind can form a blade that can slice through almost anything, I made my chakra create a gust of wind that formed a few of these blades, and with a flick of my wrist, I directed them at those trees. That is only a taste of what a true master can do with their element. For now, though, we need to find out which element you correspond to." Naruto pulled out a piece of paper. "Take this and channel a little bit of chakra into it."

Ino nodded and took the paper. She furrowed her brows for a minute, but soon the paper reacted. It crumpled.

"Well" started Naruto. "That's convenient."

Ino cocker her head to the side, inquisitive. "Why?"

"Since you're lightning natured, if you work hard enough, you could become as powerful as the Yondaime Hokage." Ino's jaw hit the floor for the second time in mere minutes. "W-w-w-what! How is that possible?"

"That will have to wait. Right now, we've gotta get your training started. To speed things up a little, do the Bunshin hand seals, but add this one to the end." Naruto showed her the familiar cross shaped seal of the Kage Bunshin. "Concentrate on only making 9, ok?"

"Hai, sensei." With a poof, nine other Ino's stood next to her. Naruto did the same, and there was one Naruto for each Ino.

"Ok, now, here's what we'll do…"

Ten minutes later, each Ino and Naruto was doing something different. One Ino held two kunai close together, trying to make a spark between them by channeling chakra into them. Another Ino was practicing tree climbing. Even though she'd already mastered it, one could never have enough practice in chakra control. Especially if you were running up and down the tree, randomly jumping between several parallel trees, and dodging kunai. A third Ino was doing the same thing on the nearby pond. Yet another was balancing Kunai on her fingertips with chakra. The fifth Ino was sparring against a Naruto clone, while the sixth was practicing the Headhunter jutsu, trying to leave no trace that she'd sunk underneath the ground. The seventh was practicing her aim with Kunai and Shuriken by throwing them at the clones running up and down trees and walking on water, right along side the Naruto clones assigned to each Ino clone. The eighth clone pair was practicing hand seal speed. The real Ino was doing various physical exercises with the real Naruto. As for the last clone pairing? Well, they were doing one of the most difficult chakra control methods ever invented.

A single kunai was planted into the ground, pointy end towards the sky. The two clones were balancing with their pointer finger on the tip of the kunai. The difficulty of this exercise was far beyond Chuunin level. In fact, few Jounin bothered with it. Not only do you have to repel your entire weight from one point on your body, but you had to use chakra to enhance your finger's strength so that you could keep yourself upright. Also, to maintain your balance, you had to regularly release chakra from many different chakra points all over the body. The last part was being able to maintain all three at the same time.

The benefits of this technique far outweighed it'd difficulty. You had to multitask on a supreme level, molding chakra in three separate ways in different parts of the body while maintaining enough concentration to keep your balance, keep your finger completely whole, and repel your weight. The usefulness of the skills learned with this technique benefit almost all the essential Ninja skills, as well as many uncommon skills. Therefore, since Naruto was stepping up Ino's training, it was obvious that she learned it. She had a lot of help, though, and Naruto was a good teacher.

During one of their laps around the training field, Ino and Naruto ran into someone they didn't expect.

Uchiha Sasuke stood under the shade of one of the many trees. Kakashi was relaxing on one of the many sturdy branches. Naruto called a quick break, and the duo approached the interlopers.

"Kakashi-san, Uchiha…san. What can I help you with?" Kakashi cast a meaningful pseudo-glare at Sasuke, before saying "I believe I need a word with you alone, Naruto-san."

Naruto nodded, and the two walked a small ways away from their students. "What was it you needed, Kakashi-san.?"

"I know that Sasuke hasn't been as respectful as he should have been to you, and he did try to use a lethal jutsu on your student, but the council decided that you should train him." Before Naruto could speak, Kakashi continued. "I would keep training him, but the Hokage decided to implant one of Uchiha Itachi's Sharingan eyes into two ninja of his choosing. He's going to have me teach them how to properly use them. I can't concentrate on Sasuke while teaching those two at the same time. Since the Hokage offered your services, and the council agreed, especially with how well you've taught Yamanaka-san, you are going to become Sasuke's teacher."

Naruto sighed. "I guess I have no choice, then. Know this, Kakashi-san; Sasuke will not get an easy treatment under my tutelage. If he thinks he can ride his way to strength, he'll be sorely mistaken."

"I understand, Naruto-san. I have to go check with the hospital. The surgery is going to happen later on today, despite Sasuke's objections. I need to be there to help them get used to their new eyesight and guide them through its use. But, I want to ask one favor from you."

"What would that be?"

"I know that you allowed Sasuke to take his brother's life by his own hand, but I feel that he may have lost his purpose in life. Please, help him find a place. Otherwise, I fear that the Sharingan may die with me… um, and my two copycats." The two chuckled at his little joke. Kakashi gave a simple farewell and left for the hospital. Naruto went back to where Ino and Sasuke stood.

* * *

While Kakashi and Naruto were having their chat, Sasuke and Ino stood in silence. Ino was fidgeting uncomfortably, unsure as to where she stood considering the Uchiha boy. Sasuke twitched a few times, almost taking a step towards her, but hesitating at the last moment. Sasuke gave a frustrated sigh.

"Yamanaka-san, may I have a word with you?"

Ino narrowed her eyes for a moment, nodding sharply.

"Yesterday… I went too far. I behaved shamefully and disgraced myself as an Uchiha." Sasuke bowed deeply. "I apologize for my actions against you."

When she didn't answer, Sasuke glanced at her rather apprehensively. Ino was frowning, her eyes unfocused as she considered his words. "Make sure it does not happen again, Uchiha-san. Naruto-sensei won't be so forgiving next time."

"H-hai." Ino almost smirked, seeing that she made the all-mighty Uchiha stutter. The two stood in silence for a moment. Sasuke fidgeted slightly, while Ino stood as still as a statue, watching her clones work with the many Narutos.

When Naruto approached them, he found them exactly like this. "Sasuke-san. Are you aware of the council's orders?" When the boy nodded, Ino spoke up. "What orders?"

Naruto frowned, unseen behind his mask. "They decided that Sasuke is to be placed under my tutelage, since Kakashi will be busy training the two new Sharingan users."

"They found more Uchiha survivors?" Ino incredulously asked.

Naruto took a few moments to explain the Sharingan transplant to Ino, who was both fascinated and disgusted. "Anyway, I think you've had enough of a break, Ino. Continue your exercises." Naruto made another clone to make sure she stayed on task. "Sasuke, come with me. We need to talk."

Sasuke frowned, fidgeted nervously, and brooded, all at the same time. Skilled, isn't he? He followed Naruto a little ways into the woods. Naruto motioned him to sit, and he followed suit. Sitting across from the pale boy, Naruto carefully removed his mask. Keeping his eyes tightly shut, he pulled a pair of translucent goggles from one of his many hidden pouches. Strapping it on and making sure it was secure, he opened his eyes.

Sasuke flinched back slightly at the sight of the pupil-less eyes, both fascinated and revolted by the baleful, sickly yellow color. He idly mused that it looked like a cross between sand, macaroni and cheese, and yellow bile. Despite not having anything to eat recently, his stomach churned at the thought.

"This is my Doujutsu. Since I am the first human to posses it, I called it the Sesshougan. This is what allowed me to defeat your brother. It is a perfect counter to most other Doujutsu, and works well against many normal ninja. With it, I could knock you unconscious with a mere glance, and with a little concentration, I could kill you the same way. Since you are to be my student, I am imposing a few important rules. The first is that I will not use my Doujutsu if you do not use yours."

"What! The Sharingan is the whole reason why the Uchiha are powerful. I won't give up my most useful weapon."

"It's for your own good, Sasuke. If you could match a Jounin without your Sharingan, imagine what you could do with it. If you refuse, I'll seal it off anyway. If you protest, I won't teach you anything. I am your sensei and you will do as I say. Understand?"

"Hai." He grumbled.

"The next rule is that, obviously, you will do as I say. If you have questions, please ask them, but even if you do not find a reason, you will not hesitate to follow orders. Third, when I teach you a potentially deadly jutsu, you are not to use it on anyone without my permission, with the exception of being in a life and death situation, with either yourself or your allies in danger. And lastly, you will follow these two creeds. 'Those who abandon their missions are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash' and 'One cannot become truly strong unless they have something or someone precious to them to protect.' Do you understand the meaning of these two sayings?"

"I understand the first one, but what about the second?"

"What is precious to you, Sasuke?"

"…" His silence was most reassuring.

"If you had something that you could not afford to loose, what would you do to protect it?"

Sasuke answered unhesitantly. "Anything."

"Ah, I see. That means that you would fight until you died just to make sure it was safe, correct?"

Sasuke nodded.

"That is the meaning of the second creed. Find something or someone to protect with your life, and never let it come to harm for as long as you live. Only then will you become stronger than your brother was."

A faint twinkle came to Sasuke's eyes as he fully came to comprehend what Naruto was talking about. Life returned to his eyes that had been missing since the night of the Uchiha Massacre. A faint smile played at his lips, giving the boy a sense of contentment and purpose.

"I understand." Naruto rose and Sasuke soon followed. Naruto extended his hand and let it rest on Sasuke's shoulder.

"If there is anything you need, whether it's more extensive training or just someone to talk to, please come to me." Sasuke nodded, his eyes misting up. No one had reached out to him in a way that had actually affected him, at least not since _that_ night.

"I'm proud to call you comrade." Sasuke's smile grew just a fraction of an inch. Naruto let his hand fall to his side.

"Go home and rest. I'm going to start your training tomorrow, and you'll need to be awake and alert if you want to survive. I'll see you tomorrow." Sasuke nodded, watching as Naruto turned and walked back to the clearing where Ino was training. Soon after the boy was no longer visible, Sasuke jumped into the trees and went home. He had a lot of thinking to do.

* * *

So, how'd you guys like that? I really stepped up my work this time around, don't you think? Well, i do, anyway.

So, can anyone guess what 'it' is?

Um, yeah, i bet you all guessed that Ino was going to be Lightning Natured. If you look back at my previous chapters, you'll see why that's significant, if you don't already know. That little hint about the Yondaime helped.

Um... err... well, shit. I can't think of anything else to add at the moment. So, yeah... if you want chapters as long and as good as this one, please leave my lots of good reviews. It's like energy bars to my muse! It makes my muse just keep on going and going and going and going and... well, you get the picture.

OH, and one final thing. Since Sasuke will be rebuilding his clan, I already have an idea for the pairing. Go ahead and guess who i'm gonna pair him with, although you won't see any interaction between the two for a few chapters.

Anyway, leave lots of reviews, and feel free to guess what 'it' is and who Sasuke will be paired with. I'll prolly PM you if you're right, although i ask that you don't go spreading it around too much.

Until next chapter!


	8. Chapter 8

Hello everyone! This is mostly an unplanned chapter. In reality it's nothing more than Sandaime's reflections on a few things. Yeah, I know, it's a filler, but I tried to make it interesting. Maybe you'll like one of the changes I've made? Meh, in any case, it'll hold you over until my next chapter is done.

**Please Read, Important Notes!**

A few reviewers have brought up a good point. What I meant about those three Jounin not being able to beat him was if he was using all his skills. For example, if he used his eyes and Kyuubi's chakra. And you forget he is a seal master. A simple Five Points seal is used to block off chakra, since it is placed on the abdomen. It screws up Naruto's chakra control in canon and blocks off Kyuubi's chakra mostly because it's overlaying the seal on Naruto. The Five Points seal, if i've read correctly, can be used on a regular ninja to almost completely block off their access to chakra. There are alot of other seals he could use too. Besides, if he was to take off his mask, even if he couldn't go toe to toe with either of the three in their respective specialties, he would only have to get them to look into his eyes. Against Ino and Sasuke, Naruto wouldn't use any of his truph cards, sticking to Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu to fight them with. You forget that Naruto has been teaching Ino to fight using deciet, not going toe to toe against her foes. Most likely, he has been teaching Sasuke the same thing. If the two of them were to fight against Naruto using all those skills while working together, while they may not be able to outright beat him (I don't think I said that, per say) they would be able to challenge him and give him a good work out. That's what I meant by that.

If you remember, in canon, Kakashi seemed to be putting up a pretty good fight against Itachi. The thing that really allowed Itachi to win was his Mangekyou. In my story, Naruto did put up a good fight against Itachi, but for the most part was getting stomped. It was when he revealed his Sesshougan and neutralized Itachi's Mangekyou that he was able to gain the advantage. Itachi got overconfident in the abilities of his bloodline, and when it was trumphed, he was shocked. Naruto took advantage of this and knocked him out while he was still processing the info. You know the rest. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. I hope i explained this adequately.  
After all, with a little trickery and cleverness, a Genin could take out a jounin if he lead him into a fatal trap. Keep that in mind. Power levels in the Narutoverse are not good measurements. There are many factors that go into a battle. At Thermopolae, going by the size and skill of the armies, the Persians should have won. In the end they did, but it was the tactical genious of the Spartan general that put the phalanx in the perfect place to make the numbers of the Persians ineffective. What few people know was that there was also a naval battle at the same time in the same general area. The Athenian general lead the naval forces against the Persians. Their fleet was outnumbered as well, but somehow they managed to inflict heavy losses against the Persians. The loss of those ships destroyed their supply network and forced the Persian army to retreat lest their army starve to death.

Keep that in mind as you read my stories. There will be some very illogical battles that will mostly be won through trickery and outmaneuvering opponents. Ninja aren't the type of people to fight toe to toe. That's a Samurai's job. Ninja are supposed to be able to win through deception. Meh, i've rambled long enough. Thank you for bringing it up, and i hope you'll continue to read my story.

* * *

Sandaime Hokage sat behind his desk, calmly puffing on his pipe. For once in a great while, nearly all the paperwork on his desk had been completed and was in the outbox. Naruto's suggestion about using a Kage Bunshin or ten was most helpful. It was rather comical when the secretary had walked into the room to see eleven Hokages furiously doing paperwork. It was a pleasant change, he decided, not having to worry about a Kage's mortal enemy. 

While it was his job as Hokage to read up on the progress of all Genin students, there were none that interested him more than Ino and Sasuke, under Naruto's tutelage. The rather detailed report Naruto had submitted late last night, after a long day of training, gave Sarutobi much needed insight over the two Genin's progress over that last two months.

In a risky move, Naruto had started training Ino in elemental manipulation. Her progress was astounding, considering her standings in the academy. She was mediocre at best; a few steps above dead last at worst. Her time under Naruto had changed her goals from getting the attention of boys to that of becoming a serious kunoichi. The leaps and bounds in her training, due in no small part to the rigorous training and nearly one on one attention from her sensei, had brought her up to a high level Chuunin, if Naruto's reports were to be believed. Most likely, she was fighting closer to a Tokubetsu Jounin. After all, she only had a short time until her elemental manipulation abilities were on par with a Jounin's.

Sasuke, at first, had been a problem. Few of the early reports from the early days of his training under Naruto had anything good to say about him. Mostly it was along the lines of how arrogant he was, his refusal to cooperate, and an inability to take loss well. Naruto had taken a few extreme measures and had given the boy a few painful lessons in humility. Sarutobi's student's efforts had paid off in the long run.

Since Naruto felt that relying on a single tactic or ability severely limited a Ninja's ability to fight, he had forbidden the use of Sasuke's Sharingan. After the first week, when he realized that Sasuke continued to activate his Doujutsu early on in any spar, Naruto had used his impressive sealing abilities to prevent its activation. It was not gone by any means, but it could not be used at all. The Uchiha had complained rather loudly. After Naruto had told him that the reason why he had been able to defeat Uchiha Itachi, a superior opponent in all ways, was because he had relied on the Sharingan's power, he had shut up rather quickly. Since Naruto had a perfect counter to almost any Doujutsu, it had been a short fight after Naruto used his Sesshougan.

After he had, in his sensei's words, gotten that stick out of his ass, he too had improved. Without the Sharingan, Sasuke could fight at a low Chuunin level. On the few occasions that Naruto allowed him to use it, Sasuke could give Ino a run for her money. The greatest improvement was Sasuke's ability to work as a team. He and Ino working together could hold give Naruto a much needed workout. While they couldn't quite defeat him outright, if they had another partner fighting on the same level as they were and working as a well oiled machine with the other two, the would most likely beat him. Well, as long as Naruto didn't use his own Doujutsu. Although with how quickly Sasuke was learning how to manipulate his own elemental affinity, fire, it wouldn't be long before both he and Ino could beat Naruto two on one.

Naruto's own progress was noticeable as well. Since most of his time was spent training his students, Naruto didn't have the time he needed to continually improve. The little spare time he had was spent trying to stay at the same level rather than go beyond it. Lately, with his student's improvement, the two have been giving him the workout he needed to continue improving. He wasn't getting stronger as fast as he would have if he has spent the same amount of time sparring against other Jounin or against Sarutobi, but it was still enough to keep him satisfied.

The true improvement was is social skills.

Since Naruto had spent a lot of time with people much older than him, mostly through training with them, he had matured at a very fast rate. While he wasn't as cold or emotionless as many child prodigies who spent almost all their time training could be, he still didn't have enough experience as a child. At least, before he had taken Ino as a student. The two had spent a lot of time bonding, and not just through training. They had gone to movies, gone out to eat, and generally just hung out, much like many other children their age would do. Even when Sasuke joined the team, they kept on socializing. Once the boy had opened up to his teammates and started acting his own age, rather than years older, Sasuke had broken out of his shell as well, even if only slightly.

Sarutobi couldn't help but feel proud. The three had changed each other, and for the better. He had a suspicion that the next generation of the Sannin had been formed, even if in a rather unorthodox way.

However, before their skills could be used to benefit the village, they had to progress to Chuunin. That meant that they had to pass the Chuunin exams. While Sarutobi would be more than willing to allow Sasuke and Ino to participate as a two man cell, he wasn't so sure that the other Kage's would approve. So that left finding another Genin to fill the slot. There were a few from the last exam that had a teammate or two get promoted, but for them to work properly as a team, they would have to do some training together.

That wouldn't be a problem with Naruto overseeing their training.

However, there were a set of minimum requirements to even be able to apply. Since the two were special cases and had D-rank missions waived, they didn't have to participate in those. Recently, the Kage's had agreed that a minimum of twelve C-ranked missions were required to enter the exam. With only a month to go until the registration deadline, there was little time. Sasuke had taken a few missions with Kakashi, before he was moved to training the next two Copy Ninjas. Since Naruto and Ino occasionally came to the Hokage Tower to visit the Sandaime and he had Ino work with one of the secretaries for a while so that he and Naruto could talk or train together, he could count those instances as C-ranked missions. After all, many Chuunin worked in desk jobs as a part of the bureaucracy that kept the village running, and their rate of pay was generally that of an ongoing C-ranked mission, Ino's short time doing menial tasks like filing paperwork could be considered as such.

Both Sasuke and Ino still had to complete two more to meet the requirements, though. Sarutobi furrowed his brows in concentration. What could he let them do to have it count as two C-ranked missions?

His eyes drifted to a small pile of mission requests. Grinning sheepishly to himself, he looked through them. Tossing most of them out as being too long and risking the team missing the exams, he finally came across a short, if somewhat dangerous mission.

There were reports about a large group of bandits plaguing the small farming villages on the Fire/Rice border. At the same time, it was almost time for one of the informants Jiraiya has stationed in the new Oto village to send a report back to Konoha. He couldn't risk letting the border patrols pick up the message, since Oto may be watching them. Having a group of Genin staying in a village with a famous, if rather small, series of hot springs after completing a mission would not be seen as out of the ordinary. Even if one of Oto's many desk-bound Chuunin was going to take a vacation to the same spot and _accidentally_ run into them at a local in, no one would suspect a thing. Nodding to himself, Sarutobi wrote out the mission report himself. Taking care of bandits and escorting a moderately important scroll would both count as C-ranked missions. It would satisfy the Genin's requirements and they could enter the exams.

Sandaime's thoughts drifted to his apprentice. Thinking back to the day that everything had changed, he couldn't help but think that, maybe, he had acted a little irrationally.

(Flashback)

Even though Sarutobi did have the right to take on any apprentice he wanted, he still had to get the approval of the council, if only to reassure them that he could continue his duties as the Hokage. It was with a foreboding air that the Council was called the same day that Naruto's particular ability had manifested.

After the routine greetings and call to order, the truly difficult part started.

"Honorable Council, there has been a new… development with Naruto." Sarutobi's voice was level, and it carried a sense of importance. That didn't stop the apprehension that filled the council. Once their whisperings had ceased, he continued.

"The boy was severely beaten by a small gang of villagers. By the time his ANBU guards had found him, they had already dispersed, leaving him in critical condition. After rushing him to the emergency room, he started going into shock." Sarutobi paused to let the mutterings die down. "Before the doctors were able to do anything, the Kyuubi intervened." The mutterings and whispers returned, more urgent than before. He didn't miss the gleam in a few eyes that bore no good will towards the lad. What scared him more was Danzo's smirk. No doubt he would try to use the incident as a way to draft the Jinchuuriki into his Root organization.

"Once the youkai had receded, the doctors began an analysis. The fox changed many aspects of his body, the majority of which improved the base functions to a point of perfection beyond that of a normal human." Outraged grumbling halted his progress for the moment. "The real cause for concern was the Doujutsu that surfaced." Dead silence reigned.

"An incident with a nurse gave valuable input towards the workings of said ability. It seems that direct eye contact sends anyone that looks into Naruto's eyes into unconsciousness." The statement was left with stunned silence. "I believe that if he could channel chakra into his eyes, he could potentially kill with a glance." Gasps of shock were the most common action. From most of shinobi, however, looks of unabashed interest met the Hokage's gaze. Danzo was practically gleeful in his seat. No doubt he was thinking of the many advantages Root could gain with that ability.

Seeing that Sarutobi was not going to continue, Hyuuga Hiashi took the floor. "What do you propose to do about this situation? It is clear that he is a threat to our well-being, even if unintentionally." Sarutobi frowned, but Danzo beat him to the punch.

"His new abilities would be best used as a tool for the village. In a normal human, such manifestations would create an incredibly strong ninja, but with the Kyuubi's power backing the boy, he could be near invincible, given the proper training." Nods met his statement. "Therefore, for the safety of Konoha, it would be best if he was placed under the authority of Root. No doubt we could mold him into the village's perfect weapon."

"Honorable Council" Sandaime began "I wish to take him on as a personal apprentice."

Outraged cries met the proposal. Certainly the council was against the action. But the Hokage was a stubborn man.

"Under my care, I could keep a closer watch on him than Root would be capable of. While the training regimen would, undoubtedly, make the boy strong, I feel that their tendency to create emotionless tools would create instability in the boy." Dissatisfied grumbles were silenced as Sarutobi continued. "Uchiha Itachi may have been strong, but his emotionless shell cracked and it cost us the entire Uchiha clan."

With the event still fresh in the council's mind, it struck deep. Many were frowning in disapproval of the plan, but they still nodded, indicating that most felt that Root would not be in the best interest of the village.

"Under my care, I could make him just as powerful as Root could. However, I could keep him on an emotionally stable level. I could give him the ability to think for himself. Root does not develop that skill, beyond reacting to an opponent in a fight. Without leadership, the Root would be a disorganized mess, their members ineffective. After all, a tool is useless unless it is properly wielded." Whispers broke out, as many began to see the Hokage's wisdom. Some, however, had doubts.

A very influential villager stood to say his piece. "If you teach that abomination to think for itself, how would you prevent it from destroying the village once it has gained enough power?"

Danzo interjected. "He could be controlled by Root. Itachi massacred his clan because of an internal struggle. Root would make sure that he would only act on his superior's orders. There would be no way that he could even consider attacking a Konoha citizen."

"Why create an unintelligent tool when I could shape him into a useful Shinobi? The boy has already expressed interest in becoming Hokage. What else do you need to be certain that his loyalty is solely to the village? I would take that aspiration and shape it into such a fierce loyalty to the village that there would be nothing he wouldn't do for Konoha. Yondaime himself had expressed such aspirations at a young age. His goals were directed by my student, Jiraiya, into a fierce loyalty to Konoha. While his reign was tragically short, under his talented care, Konoha flourished. If I could mold the boy into the perfect Hokage, he would undoubtedly be as effective as the Yondaime ever was, and backed by his skills and the Kyuubi, his strength would truly make Konoha the strongest Hidden Village ever seen."

For many of the council, it was a hard pill to swallow. His words had struck them, being very sensible. The logic behind them was infallible, and many found themselves agreeing with his views. The thought of allowing the Kyuubi container become their leader did not sit too well with many of the council members, but if Sarutobi could indeed back up his words, than their choice was obvious.

That did not stop protests, though. "I will never allow this village to be lead by that Demon!" one of the civilian members shouted. Sandaime nodded fiercely to one of the ANBU guards. A simple kunai to the temple was all that was needed to enforce Sandaime's law. Shock spread through the council.

"If you will not see things from my perspective, than I will be forced to take action." Sandaime quickly flared his chakra. ANBU poured into the council chambers, taking up threatening positions around most of the members. "As the Sandaime Hokage, I hereby banish the council. It is to be reformed into two separate bodies. One is to deal solely with the civilian side of Konoha's affairs. The other will consist of prominent Ninja and Clan Heads, and will deal only with managing Konoha's military expenses and act as advisors to the Hokage. I declare that Root is to be disbanded and all their members are to be incorporated into the either the Hunter Nin division or the ANBU, whichever fits their skills best. I also declare that Uzumaki Naruto is to become my personal apprentice. Said declarations are to be active immediately. Any protest to my orders will be considered an act of treason and will be dealt with by immediate execution. Am I understood?" The council's resignation was permeable in the chamber.

"It's time you learned who really leads Konoha. The Hokage has always been the supreme dictator of Konoha, and the council is merely a tool used to cut down the work the Hokage has to do. Never forget that. For too long the council has presumed themselves to be above my orders, even going so far as to completely subvert them. I will stand by no longer. Remember your places. While you are valuable members of Konoha, _this is not a Democracy!_" With that, Sarutobi walked out of the council chambers, a determined and almost smug look on his face.

(End of Flashback)

Since then, the Hokage's responsibilities had increased. Within the week, a simple system was put in place. A bureaucratic chain of desk jobs, run mostly by Chuunin with long term pay, was put in place to take care of most of the lesser important working of Konoha. Many of the D and C ranked missions were handled solely by that system, overseen by the Shinobi council. The missions were accepted and rejected by said council, as well as determining the importance of the missions. For example, if the council decided that a simple C-ranked mission was of vital importance to the village, they could choose to upgrade it to a B or possibly A-ranked mission and send it to the Hokage for approval.

The Civilian council used a similar method, only using civilians instead of Chuunin for their desk jobs. They oversaw the running of the non-militaristic working of the village, such as the civilian police force, a section of ANBU that drafted mostly Chuunin and a few Tokubetsu Jounin to fill their ranks. They patrolled the city for non-military related crimes and oversaw their investigations. They were also in charge of the arrests of civilian criminals. The Civilian council also elected Judges to oversee the courtroom trials that dealt with civilian crimes and lawsuits between citizens. It kept the businesses in Konoha running smoothly, set tax rates to support their actions and fund the military (which was mostly self-sufficient anyway) and generally kept Konoha running.

The system was three pronged. The Twin Councils, as they came to be called, dealt with most of the mundane tasks, while the Hokage himself oversaw most of the more critical workings. Within a year, it became painfully obvious that the new system was far superior to the old one. Konoha flourished. The Civilian council did a superlative job at managing the civilian sector. Unemployment took a nose dive, money was handled far more efficiently, which lead to better roads, utilities, and a sky-rocketing economy. The educational system was overhauled. The civilian side shifted the curriculum so that the typical High School graduate (or at least the Elemental Nation equivalent) also had the basic core classes of a University student under their belt before they even went on to higher education. All in all, things were far better than they had been.

It was no different for the Shinobi side, either. The new system cut through oodles of red tape, cutting down the time it took for paperwork to be run through the system. The workings became far more efficient, and tasks were completed far quicker than before. Since most of the lower level missions were handled independently of the Hokage, the leader's time wasn't taken up listening to a Genin team recount how boring their assignments were while giving a mission report. This left the Hokage time to focus on the safety of the village and the political maneuverings required to keep the village on good terms with its foreign counterparts. The Shinobi council, inspired by the reform of the civilian half the education, decided to improve the Shinobi side as well.

It would be impractical to change the curriculum on the students that were already in the academy. So, when the new reforms came out, they only impacted the years below that of the one that would spawn the Rookie 9. The improved curriculum had far fewer textbook lessons and far more actual physical lessons. Most of the book work was a basic history, theoretical strategy, and basic Ninja procedures (stuff like how to act around important dignitaries and how to give mission reports). The practical applications for the younger years consisted of basic physical conditioning and weapon practice. The instructors were to teach a basic Taijutsu style, a variety of low level Ninjutsu in each element as well as the three basic jutsu of the old curriculum, and some very simple Genjutsu. It even covered a few basic sealing techniques, like how to seal things into scrolls, probably the most basic sealing technique known that was still useful. There was a small class on basic first aid that included a few simple medical jutsu, stuff like pain numbing jutsu and some simple blood clotting jutsu as well as when they were best used. After all, one wouldn't want to use a blood clotting jutsu to a neck wound. It could cause a blood clot to block passages in the brain, causing a stroke and potentially killing your patient.

The aim of the new curriculum was to give the Genin a broad range of basic skills that they could draw on while on a mission as well as giving them an idea on what they would like to focus their training on. When the students were around 10 or so, they were allowed to choose a specialty and take advanced classes in that area. Since all Genin would have a basic training to allow them to survive in the field, each would also have one area that they would specialize in. Teams would no longer be formed by grades, but by specialties.

Most specialties were rather self explanatory. Genjutsu specialists were, obviously, good with Genjutsu. Ninjutsu was the same. Tracker specialists had clan techniques or bloodline limits that dealt with tracking, such as the Hyuuga, Inuzuka, or Aburame. Medical ninja were field doctors. Taijutsu specialitst, however, had three seperate branches they could choose from. First was hand to hand combat. The second was close range weapons. The third was long range weapons. A Taijutsu specialist had to have the basic skills in all three Taijutsu branches, but had to excell in at least one. Each of the specialitst were placed into teams according to their specialities and what the team was meant to do.

The teams were classified as Combat, Tracker, Information, and Scout. Combat teams consisted of a Taijutsu, Ninjutsu and Medical specialists. Combat teams were meant to be the backbone of Konoha military operations. Tracker teams consisted of a Tracker, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu specialist. They were the ones that would track down missing nin and eventually join the Hunter Nin corps. Information teams were made up of a Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, and one other person with high book grades. This team would follow paper trails and do some sleuthing. They were the ones who worked in the background and analyzed information brought back, in hopes of deducing possible threats to Konoha. Scout teams consisted of a Tracker, Ninjutsu, and Genjutsu specialists. They were sent behind enemy lines plotting the lay of the land and photoghraphing possible targets and enemy locations. Any leftovers were placed into a Backup team. A Backup team consisted of the least skilled people in the academy. While the other teams were doing missions, a Backup team got their butts trained off. Their extremely difficult training regimine would either make them strong, or force them to quit. Backup teams were held in reserve in case of emergencies or to fill in vacancies because of injury or death in other teams.

Each team type had a more advanced level. A Combat team would be turned into a Heavy Combat team when they became Chuunin. Likewise, a Tracker team would turn into an Assassination team when they advanced in rank. Information teams would be trained in torture and interrogation to complement their skills. A Scout team would be turned into a First Strike team. A First Strike team was the first team onto the battle field, doing anything from Sabotage to combat in hopes of weakening enemy defences or holding them off until the Heavy Combat teams could move into position.

The whole theory behind this new curriculum would be to create teams that, fresh out of the academy, would fight closer to Chuunin level than Genin level. Of course, this depended on the children's skills as well, but with the level of training they would undergo, all of them would be far stronger than the academy graduates of the previous conditioning. There would be some that dropped out of the academy because of the intensity of the training, but those that graduated would not be taken lightly. Under a Jounin sensei that could most benefit their team designation, each team would be stronger than their predecessors from the earlier curriculum. The Shinobi Council had decided that they had been letting their standards drop over the years, and in the hopes of increasing their strength, they had proposed the new plan. Sarutobi had agreed, mostly because it let each Academy Student choose the specialty they would have, as well as have them list their preference of teams, in hope that they could be placed on a team that they would be content with.

Since the Academy required that all the basics had to be covered by any Ninja hopeful, clans such as the Hyuuga could not limit their members to the clan teachings. A law was passed, under Hiashi's suggestion, that any Ninja had the right to choose any specialty they wished, regardless of their clan's wishes, and the child would not be punished in any way for their choice.

While the Hyuuga's elder council had protested the law, Hiashi had placated them by saying that the Hyuuga could offer their members more options in battle, and that the new curriculum could be adapted to include the clan teachings to improve their fighting style. There was a long series of debates which ended in Hiashi killing several of the elders and diminishing the power of the elder council. While Hiashi was trying to change the Hyuuga, there was only so much he could do at any time. However, he had set the stage for his successor to change the Hyuuga and eliminate the schism in their clan. Still a cold-hearted bastard by any definition of the word, he was at least trying to bring the clan together. Who knows? Perhaps his successor will succeed where he failed.

Yes, the fallout from a simple beating and Kyuubi's intervention had shaken Konoha up quite a bit. Save for those who had fallen from power, none could argue that the change was for the worse. Konoha was prospering, next year's batch of Genin would be some of the strongest yet, and things had never looked better.

Sarutobi realized that his pipe had gone out while he was lost in thought. He emptied out the ash, filled the bowl with a fresh batch of tobacco, and snapped his fingers to make a small flame to light it. He took a deep drag, blowing the smoke out of his nose.

He tapped a seal on the underside of his desk. Barely a minute later, a Chuunin secretary entered his office.

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

"Please send someone to find Uzumaki-san and his two students. I have a mission for him."

The man simply bowed and left. Sarutobi leaned back in his padded leather chair. Yes, things were definitely for the better. He could only hope that they stayed that way. After all, who knows what the future could bring. He was only hopeful that Konoha could rise to the challenge, so that the Will of Fire could burn brightly far into the future, shining through the youth that would inherit it.

Sandaime idly mused that, perhaps, he had heard a cry of one of his more eccentric Jounin yell about the flames of youth, the sound drifting in through the open window.

* * *

Yeah... sorry it wasn't much. Hope you at least enjoyed it. 

Erm, I hope you don't think that the changes I made were too extreme. Well, yeah, they were extreme, but I hope they were at least believable. About the Misc. team. More or less, as I said, they are the ones with the least talent. While I did say that they would be flushed out of the program, I meant that they would get their buts worked off in hopes of making them quit. If they persevere, the severe training would undoubtedly drastically improve their skills and possibly make them stronger than the ones who underwent normal training. I didn't mean to mislead you by saying 'flushing out' was forcing them to quit or taking care of them in a more... permanant way. It merely meant that they would get worked to the point where they would get stronger, or if they couldn't handle it, would quit.

So... yeah. Until next time!


	9. Chapter 9 PLUS IMPORTANT NOTES!

"Ino, Sasuke, we're done for the day." The two stopped sparring, sending quizzical glances at their sensei. The sun was barely peeking over the horizon, tinting the clouds a plethora of colors. The sunrise was partially obscured by the trees surrounding the training grounds, but the large pond to the east side cleared enough trees that it could be seen.

As usual, the group began training very early in the morning, before the horizon had even started to lighten. The used the dark to simulate night missions, practicing their stealth skills and honing their teamwork. When there was enough light to see each other well, they would spar or learn new Taijutsu techniques, sometimes both. Once they had a good workout, they began ninjutsu training, which at this point consisted mostly of training their elemental affinities. Neither were extremely skilled; they didn't have a mastery of their element. They could use it on a small scale, though, and both had applied it to their Taijutsu, with Naruto's suggestion. After a while, they would work on Genjutsu, and after that they would do some heavy workouts before lunch. They had about three hours to eat lunch and relax before training for the rest of the day. For the most part, the evening training sessions were applied to speed and strength training and more teamwork for daylight missions.

"Sensei, why are we stopping so early? Usually we train all day!" Ino was rather incredulous. After all, this was a drastic change in their training schedule. Sasuke, despite his change of heart, still didn't speak much. He just continued staring, waiting for an explanation.

Naruto sighed. Why were his students so difficult? It would have been much easier to just keep on doing A and S-ranked missions like he had been since he was 11, but no, the Hokage, in his infinite wisdom, decided that he needed interaction with kids his own age. Rolling his eyes, hidden behind his mask, he said "Hokage-sama has a mission for us. We have to be at the briefing in half an hour. That's enough time for you to take a shower and change your cloths. I'll meet you in the Hokage's office then. Dismissed."

Ino and Sasuke nodded and disappeared. Sasuke had picked up the Shunshin jutsu rather quickly, even without the Sharingan. Naruto allowed his face to contort into a smile, hidden from the world. His students had come far under his tutelage. They had grown exponentially since he had started training them. Despite the hardships he had because of his students, he felt a sense of pride knowing that they were far stronger than any other Genin in the village. Hell, they surpassed many Chuunin as well. Going all out, they could probably match any Tokubetsu Jounin in the village.

He shook himself out of his thoughts. Not even bothering to do hand seals, he poofed away. The figure that was standing in the trees, watching the group train, gasped in shock when a hand clamped over her mouth.

"Ah… Hyuuga-san, you know that it's rude to spy on people, right? What's that term they have for it…. Isn't it called stalking?"

To Naruto's hidden glee, the girl flushed red. While not a full-faced tomato imitation, it was a very deep scarlet coloring added to her cheeks. Naruto removed his hand from her mouth, and once she was released, she spun around to stare at the boy behind her.

"So… may I help you?" Naruto drawled, quite lazily.

"I… I was rather impressed by your performance against those missing-nin. You are very strong, and that is a quality I can appreciate…" Hinata trailed off. Her usually blank face was tinged with a very slight frown.

"Go on…" Naruto said.

Hinata's frown disappeared and a look of determination flickered onto her face. "I have decided to give you the honor of being my boyfriend."

Her rather… unorthodox statement was met with laughter. The girl flushed with embarrassment and confusion, knowing that she had caused the outburst but not knowing exactly what she had done to make him laugh.

"Hyuuga-san, that's not how it works." Naruto said after he recovered. "You can't just go around telling people that they should feel honored that you are giving them a chance to date you. After all, you may be a Hyuuga, but you aren't that important. Besides, you're coming after me for all the wrong reasons. The only reason you're even considering me is because I'm strong. While strength may be a quality that you like in guys, that can't be all that attracts you to someone. Hell, you probably don't even like me, except for the fact that I'm strong. There's gotta be more than that to a relationship."

Hinata had the decency to look truly embarrassed at his almost scathing words. Any other boy that she knew would have jumped at the chance. After all, she was practically Sasuke's counterpart in the academy. Where Sasuke had a following of fangirls, she had the same in the opposite gender. His words and actions confused her. She wasn't used to rejection.

"Relationships can't just happen because you want them to. You gotta work at it. If you really liked me, you would have asked, not demanded that I become your boyfriend. Even more so, you would have tried to get to know me, my likes, my dislikes, my hobbies, things that make me who I am. Even then, there is more to it. You have to be attracted to someone. I can't really describe it, but when you're attracted to someone, you get a sense of longing for that person, a sense that you want to spend a lot of time with them, to talk with them, and maybe show affection to that person. You have to care for someone before you can like them, or even love them." Hinata hung her head. Everything he said was true. Even though he tried to soften the blow, it still stung to be so soundly turned down.

"Hyuuga-san, I'm flattered, really, I am. It's not every day that a beautiful girl asks you out. But, I don't think that you truly understand what a relationship is. Maybe one day, you will learn to care for someone. Until then, you will have to wait for that person to come along. I appreciate your admiration, but I can't accept. I wish you luck, Hyuuga-san." With that, Naruto poofed away to parts unknown, leaving a very confused girl in his wake.

Hinata knew that everything he said was true. But… even though he had turned her down, her respect for him had shot up. He wasn't like those drooling fools that usually followed her around. He was different. He may not like her, but he respected her, at the very least. Why else would he explain things to her in such a way unless it was to make her realize that she needed to care?

Her eyebrows furrowed. Her family taught that caring for people was a waste of time. Her clan preached loyalty to the clan and the village, in that order. They taught her that emotions were not dignified, that they were unfitting for a Hyuuga. But… maybe they were wrong? Maybe caring for people wasn't a bad thing. Maybe… maybe emotions weren't above a Hyuuga. Could it be that everything she had been taught until then was wrong? With this startling revelation, Hinata was more confused than ever. But there was one person she knew she could go to for help: Kurenai-sensei.

* * *

The briefing had gone smoothly, barely taking 10 minutes from the minute they walked into the Hokage Tower until they left. The trio was walking down the street, as opposed to jumping across the rooftops like ninja usually traveled. Normally, Ino and Sasuke would have commented on the change from their usual traveling method, but with Naruto mumbling under his breath, rather intently at that, they didn't bother. Suddenly, he stopped.

Turning to face the other two, he asked "Do you guys remember what I taught you about the most important part of a ninja mission?"

The two practically rolled their eyes in unison. "Rule number 1, Information is the most important tool a ninja can use on any mission." Their deadpan expressions really helped reassure that they thought it was important.

Naruto nodded and said "Be sure to remember that. Now, you know that our mission is on the border between Rice and Fire countries. While the mission entails eradicating a troublesome bandit group, the briefing gave us almost no information as to their number or strength. For all we know, they could have missing nin in their ranks. To get a better picture of what we're up against, what do we need to do?"

Ino furrowed her brows, obviously thinking hard. Before she had a chance to ponder the question for long, Sasuke spoke up, "We should find someone who was patrolling the border in that general area and get their opinion."

"Very good, Sasuke. When you two are Jounin, this is the most vital step to completing your missions. In fact, if a Jounin feels that there is insufficient information regarding the mission, they may commission an information gathering operation. Generally, this entails sending in either a tracking team, for reconnaisence, or an interrogation team, to capture an enemy to get the information directly from the horse's mouth, so to speak. However, since we will most likely get adequate information from a Jounin I know who just came back from patrolling the area, the extra mission is not needed. While we're there, I'll have the two of you practice your tracking skills to capture a bandit, and your interrogation skills, to get information. For now…"

Naruto trailed off, flashing through a few quick hand signs. A gust of wind swirled around him, and he whispered into it. One tiny tendril of the wind, only perceivable because of the dust it carried with it, brushed against his cheek in an almost affectionate manner before taking off to parts unknown.

"…for now we'll meet my comrade at the gates." He finished.

"Naruto-sensei, what kind of jutsu was that?" Ino asked, genuinely curious.

"That was an old Futon jutsu. Sand put it to good use, using it to relay messages between ninja teams during wars. Someone from the Uchiha clan copied it while it was being used and brought it back to Konoha. Sasuke, if there's one thing those eyes of your are good for it's stealing enemy jutsu. A large part of Konoha's military might comes from the broad range of jutsu we know just because members of the Uchiha clan copied them and taught them to leaf nin."

Although Sasuke did smirk, it didn't hold the same sense of arrogance it used to. Yes, it was proud, but for a good reason. Naruto almost shook his head, recognizing the smirk as the same kind he wore when someone mentioned one of his two students. Pride is a very good thing, as long as it is not unfounded. That leads to arrogance, which leads to death, especially in the shinobi world.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Naruto said "Come one, we need to hurry."

The two followed him to the rooftops, running at ninja speeds to reach their destinations.

"Genma, it's been a while, hasn't it?"

Said ninja turned rather suddenly, spotting Naruto once he looked down. "Oh, hey there Naruto. I got your message, but what did you need?"

"I know that you just got back from patrolling the Fire-Rice border, and since my mission is in the general area, I need to know what you saw from the bandits there."

"Hmm. Most of them were your run-of-the-mill bandits. Ya know, those mercenary gangs that aren't being employed. But… while I was there, my team ran across a few ambush sights that looked like some jutsu were used. It is possible that it was the remnants of foreign ninja missions, there's always the possibility of a missing nin taking control of a bandit gang. It's happened before."

"Hmm. Thanks for the info, I really appreciate it." Naruto turned to walk away but stopped when Genma called out.

"Hey, what about my payment!"

Naruto sighed to himself. Reluctantly turning around, he pulled out a very vibrant orange scroll from one of his pockets. Unrolling it, he browsed down the selection. Finally, he reached a decision and, with a quick poke, unsealed an object from one of the small storage seals.

"Here you go, Icha Icha Heartthrob IV, special edition. Personally autographed by Jiraiya." Naruto tossed the book to the practically drooling Jounin.

"Naruto, how in the world do you get a hold of these! This is one of the rarest books in the series!"

Naruto snickered at Genma's antics. "It pays to be the apprentice of the author's sensei. I get to work with the Toad Hermit every once in a while, when he's in town. Those books are good for paying back favors, even if I don't read them myself."

Genma smirked almost malevolently. "Don't worry, kid. In a few years you'll change your tune."

Has the author already impressed upon you the many uses of a mask yet? Never before was Naruto more thankful that he constantly wore a mask… except for every single time that any of the older Jounin had done the same thing.

* * *

Hello everyone. Sorry for the late update, and I'm really sorry it's not up to par. I've been having alot of writer's block, and this was about all I could squeeze out of this story until I get some inspiration. Unfortunately, that means very irregular updates. I appreciate all of you who read it, and I hope you've enjoyed it so far.

Unfortunately, if I don't feel I can continue it, I'll post a notice so that if someone wants to adopt it, they may. They'll just have to ask first. Or, I may just cut it short in a few chapters instead of dragging it out like I was planning. Like I said, right now I've got, like, zero inspiration.

In other news, I've been playing alot of Shadowrun lately. Not the crappy video game, but the old role playing game. I never knew so many 6 sided die were needed... shudders. Those who have played the game will know that I'm talking about. In any case, that's given me a bunch of inspiration to write a Cyberpunk Naruto story. It's called Cyberfox (I know, not a really original name, laugh now or forever hold your peace). If you're interested, check my profile. As it is, I've only found one other Cyberpunk story for Naruto, and I have no idea about the rest of the categories. It'll be pretty experemental, even if I'm borrowing alot from the RPG.

To those of you who don't know what Cyberpunk is, go watch Blade Runner, or read Snow Crash or Neuromancer. Those are some of the better Cyberpunk movies and books I've found. Oh, and if anyone knows what I'm talking about, I'm not against taking suggestions, either for the story or for books. I could always use some more inspiration.

Again, I'd like to thank you all for reading, and I really hope I'll be able to continue. I'm sorry for letting you guys down.


	10. OMG! You again?

The bandit camp was lively. They had just gotten back from a raid, conveniently on a liquor merchant, and most of them were completely drunk. Over the main fire, a nice sized boar was roasting, and off to the side, the remains of another had already been well cooked and picked clean by the group. For them, life was great. The women they had captured provided ample entertainment, and the liquor they just got helped them relax. Each of them had amassed a fair amount of wealth from their raids, and could probably live off of their earnings for the winter months when raids would be scarce.

What they didn't know was that they were being watched. Though they had posted guards, most of them had abandoned their posts to join in the party. That was a big mistake.

Around the main fire, around twenty of them were drinking their preferred brew while eating and joking amongst themselves. A loud cry went unheeded, but that would be their undoing.

A large fireball crashed into the group, exploding and setting all of them on fire. They screamed in pain and the few who weren't killed right off the bat tried to roll around on the ground to put out the flames that licked at their skin, to no avail. They were dead in a minute. The black haired boy that had cast the jutsu turned to clear out the tents, leaving them to their fate.

Inside the first tent he went into, several naked men were holding down a struggling woman, barely into her twenties, as another had his way with her. Save for the woman, all of them were drunk enough to be swaying in place.

Sasuke charged in, his kunai stabbing and slicing at vital areas. The nearest two fell dead before the others could react, and the one currently raping the girl was nearly decapitated by another slice. The one farthest from the Uchiha dove towards his piled up cloths. He quickly grabbed his knife and turned to face the ninja. A kunai planted itself between the man's eyes, and he fell to the ground, dead.

Sasuke knelt near the girl, who was crying and trying to push the corpse off of her. He kicked at the body, rolling it off of the girl.

"Are you ok?" He asked her, much more worried about her welfare than he would have been before being taught by Naruto. The girl just cried harder, latching onto her savior.

He blushed slightly, as any young teenager would if a naked woman latched onto them. But he had a mission to complete.

"If you get dressed and head to the south, you can escape. I've got to go rescue the rest of the captives."

The girl nodded and let go of him. He mumbled something that sounded like 'good luck' to her before leaving the tent. There were many more that he needed to clear.

* * *

The leader of the bandits heard the explosion and rushed out of his tent to investigate. A kunai whistled past his cheek, and he paused to look for the source. A boy, no older than 13 stood facing him, wearing a modified ANBU outfit.



"Surrender or die," was all that the boy said. The bandit leader adjusted the hitai-ate he wore, the symbol for Iwa sliced through, indicating that he was a missing nin.

"In your dreams, kid." His voice was gruff, and slightly slurred, indicating his own inebriation. He flashed through some hand seals and slammed his palms to the ground. A stone spike thrust into the space that the boy had previously occupied.

The ninja looked around, his opponent having disappeared. A hand shot out of the ground and grabbed his ankle, pulling him under. A few seconds of silence permeated only by the action going on in other parts of the camp ended when Naruto rose out of the ground. He pulled out a small cloth and wiped the blade of his bloody kunai before sheathing it. He casually flicked his hand at the tent the man had come out of. A blade of wind ripped through the canvass and several mutilated bodies fell to the ground, obviously dead. Satisfied, he leapt away to another part of the camp. There was a lot of work to do.

* * *

Ino dodged a sword slice, nimble dragging her kunai through the man's armpit as she did so. He collapsed a few seconds later, the artery that ran through that area sliced wide open, blood flowing down his side. He would be dead within a minute.

Several strikes from her next opponent were cleanly blocked, and when she got a chance, her foot darted out, slamming into the man's knee. He bellowed in pain, falling forwards, only to meet Ino's kunai on its way up, It slammed into his chin to the hilt. Ino shoved the body to the side, pulling her kunai out as she did so. The tip had pierced the man's brain, killing him instantly.

With the flick of her wrist, the kunai sailed into the woods to her left, and with a dull _thunk_ it hit an archer about to shoot her. The man's bow went off, hitting one of the bandits preparing to decapitate the girl while she wasn't paying attention. Both died.

Ino, unfazed, ran through some hand-seals before flicking her arms out to either side of her. Lightning crackled out of her outstretched fingers, jumping from person to person, electrocuting them before they could hurt her. A very foolish man wielding a katana charged her from behind and sliced cleanly through the log that was left behind from her Kawarimi. It was covered in explosive tags.

With a _boom_ it went off, obliterating the group that had surrounded her and several of the surrounding tents. Ino jumped away from the tree she had appeared in, going to other parts of the camp. There was still much to do.

* * *

Three weary ninja met at the edge of what used to be a bandit camp. The many tents were burning, signs of the many jutsu used had torn up the ground. The peaceful clearing it had once been will be a scar on the land for years to come.

Naruto, Ino, and Sasuke wearily stood before the group of prisoners. All of them were females of ages from around 14 or 15 to almost 30. Each of them were beautiful, as befitted 'entertainment' for the strongest bandit group around, which was now dead to the man. Each girl had a small burlap sack that held some of the cloths that they could scavenge and other various valuables.



"Keep whatever you took from the camp. Go on and try to live your lives," Naruto said.

"Wait!" one of them yelled before the three could leave. They paused, waiting for her to continue.

"Um… how can we thank you?" she asked.

Ino gave her a sad smile. "Go and rebuild your lives. Don't let this hang over your heads."

With that, the three jumped away.

* * *

"Ah, this is more like it!" Ino exclaimed. She was sitting in one corner of the largest hot spring. Naruto and Sasuke soaked just a small ways off. This particular pool was not gender specific, though there were few others. Any of the lecherous old men that would try to gape at Ino's nude figure were quickly driven off by a glare from Sasuke and a look from Naruto's blank mask.

"I'll have to agree with you, Ino-san," Sasuke said, quite satisfied by the soak after a long night of killing bandits.

"Yeah, but it makes me wonder why you didn't want to go to the separated springs." Naruto playfully teased Ino, who blushed in response.

"Well, we are becoming a closer team, and someday you may have to treat my wounds. You might as well get a look now instead of gawking at my beauty when I'm dying," she huffed. The two boys chuckled, knowing that Ino didn't like being made fun of.

After a few moments of silence between the three of them, Naruto quietly asked "Are you guys ok? I mean, with the killing and what not?"

"Sensei," Sasuke intoned, "you were the one who taught us that killing was part of a ninja's job. We aren't going to go off and cry or anything."

Naruto nodded. "Just… well, if you do have some problems, you can tell me. I've been doing things like this since I was 10, so I'm kind of used to it."

Ino smiled at him. "Of course sensei. We're a team, and we can trust each other, right?"

"Right!" the two others said in unison. The three broke down laughing.

"Excuse me." Their laughter was interrupted. A man around twenty years old or so walked up next to Naruto and said "You are…"

Naruto nodded. The man's expressionless façade broke into a frantic, fearful look. "Take this and get it back to Konoha as fast as you can! I can't tell you everything, but this is a level 5 emergency!"

Naruto stiffened. "Are you sure?"



The man nodded. "I've got to get back and try to cover my tracks. You _have_ to get this back as soon as possible! I've got to go."

The man jumped onto the roof of the main building and he took off running into the night. Naruto stood, heedless of his nude form, and said "Sasuke, Ino, get your cloths. We're leaving."

"Hai!" Without outward regard to modesty, the other two stood and ran with Naruto back to the changing area. Each one grabbed the yukata they wore to the springs before charging out of the changing room and up the stairs to the hotel room they shared. They dressed as quickly as possible, each one wearing a similar ANBU uniform knock-off like Naruto, though only Naruto had a mask. They took their stuff and quickly packed before jumping out of the window. Before leaving, Naruto created a Kage Bunshin and handed it a few bills.

As the three jumped off into the night, the Kage Bunshin sighed and made his way downstairs. He had a room to pay for.

* * *

The run back to Konoha was frantic, although none of them could sense anyone following them. They jumped from branch to branch through the tree tops at a furious pace, enough so that Sasuke and Ino were becoming winded. Even after all the stamina training Naruto had put them through, they were getting tired from running.

Then again, they were already half way through Fire Country from the Rice border.

Just as Naruto stepped on a branch, an explosive tag went off near his head. The blast threw him off of his trajectory and into a neighboring tree. The impact cracked his mask, and by the time he reached the forest floor, it had completely shattered.

"Naruto-sensei!" his two students yelled. They both landed and went to him.

He groaned and shakily stood. There were some scratches on his face, but they were already rapidly healing, small bits of porcelain being pushed out. He kept his eyes carefully closed so he could pull his clear goggles out of one of his pouches and put them on.

"So, we meet again, Naruto-san."

The voice made all three turn rapidly in the direction of the voice. There on the other side of a small clearing was none other than Uchiha Itachi.

"Did you really think you could kill us so easily?"

Behind them, the frightful visage of Hoshikage Kisame leered at them, his shark-like teeth glinting in the moonlight.

"Itachi!" Sasuke yelled out. "You died… I killed you myself!"



"Foolish little brother. Do you really think that we would be so stupid as to attack our prey with four Jounin in such close proximity?" Itachi scolded him. "Those were merely special clones… flesh puppets, if you wish to think of them in such a way."

"Heh, Akatsuki is much more resourceful and too conservative to waste two of its most powerful members." Kisame bragged.

"Very well then. I'll have to kill you again, then," Naruto growled. Red chakra was already beginning to seep out of him, giving him a red aura.

"But could you take out two of us?" Kisame asked.

"No… Ino, Sasuke… run."

"Wha-?" was all that Ino managed to say before Naruto grabbed the front of both her and Sasuke's uniforms.

"Get to Konoha," he said, slipping the scroll into her pouch, "and deliver the message. Now GO!" He turned and literally threw them out of the clearing, above the tree tops, and far enough away that they could land and keep going without their opponents catching them.

After a moment of tense silence, Naruto said, "Let's get wild…"

He sped towards Itachi, a punch already cocked and ready to fly. It was blocked, but the following backhand wasn't. Kyuubi's chakra gave him enhanced strength, knocking Itachi across the clearing and into a tree, where his body burst into a cloud of ravens. Naruto spun and flew through some hand signs so fast that his hands blurred. The ground below the charging Kisame turned to mud, tripping the large shark-man up. Before he could break free, a fire dragon raced at the man.

In turn, Kisame made a quick water dragon to douse the flames rushing at him. At the last second, he leaned to the side and avoided the wind blade that would have cut him in half. It still nicked his shoulder, though not too deeply. Naruto, though, intercepted the flying kick from Itachi, backing up a step with each blow the Uchiha threw at him. The blows came fast and furiously, though neither scored a decisive hit. When the two broke apart, Itachi's cloak was in tatters from the wind chakra Naruto had been putting into the blows. Again, Itachi had minimal wounds.

Quickly, Naruto ducked Samehada's swing, avoiding a severe wound to the side of his head, and swept Kisame's legs out from underneath him. Grabbing the falling man, he swung him around, right into Itachi's counterattack, bowling the two over. By the time they had recovered, a huge fire dragon was already rushing towards them. Before they could dodge, a wind bullet hit the dragon, and the resounding explosion blew the two to opposite sides of the clearing. Twin sickening crunches heralded their introduction to the trees at the edge.

The two had to recover quickly and continue dodging to avoid the blasts and blades of wind that were coming with mere gestures from Naruto. Eventually, Kisame charged, dispersing the wind blades with 

his chakra eating sword. Naruto again dodged an overhead blow, but before he could attack Kisame, Itachi stuck a chakra seal to Naruto's back, right between the shoulders, and kicked him away.

Naruto flew into a tree, barely managing to curl up to avoid the worst of the damage. Somehow, he managed to land on his feet, albeit quite shakily. They stood, staring each other down. It was a tense moment.

"If you come with us quietly, you won't have to die… yet." Kisame said. "Maybe you'll just loose a leg or two."

"Hah. Like I'd just lie down and give up," a panting Naruto shot back. "You forget that I'm much more than the fox's chakra."

Suddenly, a score of Kage Bunshin burst out of the ground beneath the two. Itachi managed to disperse several of the ones assaulting him before getting kicked away, but Kisame was put into a standing submission hold. He struggled, yelling obscenities, but the blonde clones wouldn't let go.

"And now, you die." Naruto charged at the blue man at speeds they hadn't seen from him before, even with his tenant's chakra, with a fully charged rasengan in his hand. The swirling chakra attack was slammed right into Kisame's chest.

"NOOO!" The man screamed before the attack went off. He was blasted away, the clones dispersing from the trauma. When he hit a tree a fair distance away and slid to the ground, it was quite obvious that his entire torso was blasted and ground to near non-existence. The corpse folded in on itself, quite obviously dead. Since the Samehada did not disappear, as it had the last time Kisame was 'killed', it was obvious that this was the real one.

Itachi's eyes narrowed. "So, you have gained some skills. But it won't be enough to match me."

Naruto laughed, somewhat bitterly. "Even with the fox's chakra sealed away, we're even without your Mangekyo. If you still had it, you would have activated it by now."

Itachi, showing emotion for the first time Naruto had faced him, growled. "I will not let you get away with that. And I am just as dangerous without it. Even a normal Sharingan is more than enough."

Matching Naruto's speed earlier, Itachi shot towards the blonde. The kunai in his hand glinted in the moonlight before it was jammed into the boy's shoulder. The following knee to the sternum mad the boy rocket away, though he recovered before crashing into anything. With a few hand seals, a forest of earth spikes shot up around the place that the Uchiha traitor stood. Though his foot was almost completely run through, he managed to get away with little damage.

Itachi blocked the barrage of shuriken that came after him and shot back several of his own, none of which found targets. A hand shot out of the ground, grabbing the Uchiha's leg as he landed. Itachi just jerked his leg up, pulling the boy out from underneath the soil and breaking his grip. A furious Taijutsu 

battle raged for half of a minute before both landed blows on each other's jaws as the same time, sending each other back a few paces.

They stood there, panting. Suddenly, Naruto shot forward, another rasengan in his hands. The blow landed right on Itachi's shoulder, though not before the kunai in his hands was thrust into Naruto's stomach. Itachi was sent flying away against a tree. His right arm hung useless, though relatively unharmed.

Blood poured out of Naruto's stomach wound. The blonde stumbled back a few paces and fell on his back. His breathing was heavy and labored.

"You were foolish to challenge me. The Uchiha always were the strongest clan, and I am the strongest Uchiha. You are no match for me." He slowly began to walk towards Naruto, who was starting to struggle to stand. Concealed by the cloth of his uniform, the wound was just beginning to heal, the kunai having fallen out of the wound while Naruto stumbled.

"Then why don't you face another Uchiha, brother." Sasuke stood at the edge of the forest, a fully matured Sharingan spinning rapidly. His face was set in a visage of anger, though the obsessive rage and hate that had previously adorned it was no longer present.

"I always was more powerful than you, foolish little brother. You cannot hope to match me."

"I'll take you down in one shot, you bastard." Sasuke growled.

Itachi began to laugh as Sasuke began to build up a Chidori. The elder brother sensed in preparation as Sasuke shot across the clearing. Though his speed was not quite up to the point that Naruto's was, it was still significant for a Genin.

When Sasuke was twenty feet away from his brother, Naruto leapt onto Itachi's back. His arms shot underneath the Uchiha's and curled up around the man's neck, locking him into a full nelson. His legs were firmly planted onto the ground, enhanced with chakra so that the Uchiha couldn't move away. Sasuke's steps faltered, but a stern look from Naruto, over Itachi's shoulder, convinced him to continue.

"No, I won't die like this!" Itachi yelled.

"You have no choice." Naruto whispered into his ear.

"CHIDORI!" Sasuke yelled, plunging his hand into Itachi's chest. The traitorous Uchiha's heart was obliterated, a small amount of blood spraying from his mouth as his lungs were pierced. The Sharingan from his eye stopped spinning, and they lost their glint. The instigator of the Uchiha Massacre died there, at the hands of his little brother. There was no fancy clone jutsu, no substitution, and no way to escape. His soul would be taken by the Shinigami.

However, the attack did not just stop with Itachi. Sasuke's hand exited the dead Uchiha's back and into Naruto's chest. Horrified Sharingan eyes looked onward as his sensei's eyes lost their gleam. Naruto's arms weakened as he fell backwards. While he slid off of Saskue's hand, Itachi's body was stuck on his 

little brother's arm. Naruto grunted as he hit the ground, coughing and hacking up blood. It pooled in his mouth and ran out of the corner of his mouth, down his cheeks and onto the ground. Ino burst out of the ground and knelt at her sensei's side.

"Naruto-sensei, why?" she asked through sobbing breaths.

"… Why did you come (cough cough) back?"

"Because… those who abandon their teammates are worse than trash." Sasuke said.

Naruto grimaced as he coughed again, but smiled after. "You two have surpassed my expectations by far." He hacked up a chunk of what appeared to be lung tissue, spitting it to the side. "I was proud to call you my students."

"You still can, sensei, just hold on! We can get you back, you're gonna pull through!" Ino's hysterical speech was fouled by her sobs. "We're going to keep on training together, just like always!"

Naruto smiled again as his eyes slowly dimmed. Soon, between Ino's sobbing and Sasuke's silent crying, they lost focus.

Five ninja bearing Sound Hitai-ates landed in the clearing. Each one was dressed in something similar to a yukata with a purple sash and a huge purple rope bow across their backs. A redhead, the only girl of the bunch, said "Aww, the little bitch sad because her crush died? Grow up, you stupid bint."

The pale yellow haired man in the middle calmly said "Uchiha Sasuke, come with us."

Sasuke's jaws clenched, but he ignored them.

"Hey, crybaby, did you hear us? You better come with us now, or we're gonna have to take you forcibly." A man with six arms said.

With that, Sasuke exploded into action. His arm was sheathed in lightning as he shot towards the Sound ninja at speeds their eyes couldn't keep up with. The one with the red hair could only gasp before the Chidori was thrust through her chest. The other four froze at the sudden attack.

"Never insult my teammates." Sasuke growled, shoving the rapidly dying girl off of his arm.

He attacked the other four, a flurry of punches, kicks, and kunais, driving off all four of them, though neither side was able to land decisive hits. The white haired one broke off and rushed at Ino, who was still sobbing over Naruto's body. He grabbed her hair and put a kunai at her throat.

"Cease and desist or your teammate will die."

Sasuke froze long enough for one of the other three to knock him out. He collapsed.

"Hey, Kimimaru, what're we gonna do about the other two?"

"… we will get rid of the witnesses."



Ino's eyes widened, but before the man named Kimimaru could dig his kunai, apparently made out of bone, through her throat, she sunk into the earth, dragging the man's arm down to the shoulder before he could let go of her hair.

She grabbed the fat one by the leg and drug him completely over, surfacing a few seconds later with a bloody kunai in hand. She savagely swiped at the one with the purple lipstick, drawing deep gashed across his chest, arms, and face.

Ino's eyes were ablaze with fury, bordering on insanity. Just when she buried her kunai into the six armed man's chest, through the heart, a bone spike was shoved through her back. Ino screamed and fell to the ground, her world ablaze in pain. The guy with purple lipstick kicked her, and her body flew across the clearing, landing next to Naruto's cooling corpse. As Kimimaru checked on Sakon's wounds, Ino slowly crawled towards Naruto.

"I… I never got to tell you… my secret," she said, coughing up a small amount of blood.

"I… I love you." She leaned down to his face, and her lips met Naruto's.

An explosion of red chakra and wind flew in all directions. The other two sound ninja had just enough time to turn towards the source before their bodies were sliced into many different pieces and incinerated by the combined blue and red chakra. Strangely, the chakra did not affect either Ino or Sasuke.

The wounds on Naruto rapidly closed. His eyes regained their focus and his body lifted into the air. A tendril of red chakra shot from him and dragged Sasuke over towards where he was floating. A blast of combined red and blue poured into Ino's surprised face, disappearing into her eyes. With a sickening _splorch_ the bone spear was shot out of her body, and the hole closed over rapidly, leaving pale, unblemished skin behind. But there were other side effects. Her eyes literally melted out of their sockets, only to be replaced by pale, baleful, sickening yellow eyes. Slowly, the chakra began to recede, spiraling around Naruto's body and into his seal.

When it was gone, the whole clearing was silent as a grave… as was appropriate for the final resting place of seven enemy ninja.

* * *

I'm back!

I would like to say that my muse beat me over the head until I finished this chapter, but that's not true. What made me actually update in the longest time was the fact that this story was placed in my favorate community. Yes, people, thank the moderators of 'Cool, not Deadlast'. That community is the one I browse most often on this sight. If you havn't yet been there, GO THERE NOW!

In other news...

Yes, Itachi and Kisame did not die the last time they faced Naruto. This time, they really did. Fooled you, didn't I?

They used a human sacrifice and a butt load of chakra to create an exact genetic replicy of themselves. Then, they used a jutsu to temporarily transfer their souls into those bodies. After that, when the bodies died, their souls would go back to their original souls. Think of it as a way to test a village's defenses and your prey's skills. Like how Naruto uses Kage Bunshin.

Hope that isn't too confusing.

And I hope you enjoyed this chapter! But, I've gotta run, I'm late for class.


	11. Dark Clouds on the Horizon

Just to prevent confusion, the 'first fight' you'll see referenced in bold is the fight Naruto, Ino, and Sasuke just had against the Sound Five. Technically, that kind of open fighting, completely unprovoked, was a declaration of war.

* * *

**6:37 AM, 6 hours after the first fight.**

ANBU team 15 jumped into the clearing, warily searching for any signs of hostility. Their captain, a short, petite woman with close-cropped brown hair and a mask that vaguely resembled a cat, made several hand signals. The other three ANBU spread out, checking the bodies as they went. The clearing was a mess. Wood chips and broken branches littered the border of the clearing, small pools of blood lay drying around the corpses they came from, kunai and shuriken were scattered around almost buried in the soil. The scene was gruesome, but to the hardened ANBU, it was nothing new.

One, with a wolf-like mask, whistled appreciatively. "Must've been quite a fight."

"Ah. Must have." The captain responded. "Are ours alive?"

"Yeah, just unconscious," the ANBU with the bear-like mask said as he checked the pulses of the two Genin and the Jounin laying on the ground in front of him.

"What about their opponents?" she asked.

"Dead," the last operative said as he kicked the corpses to make sure they weren't faking. Whatever emotions he had about the scene were well hidden behind his boar-like mask.

The captain nodded. "Take the Uchiha's head and the fish-man's sword. Burn the rest."

With brutal efficiency, her orders were carried out. Several Goukyaku no jutsu later and ANBU team 15 were on their way back to Konoha with three injured and unconscious allies on their backs. As they left, the black, oily smoke from the burning corpses tinted the morning sky, ominously clouding the sunrise. Unsurprisingly, the sun was red. The same color as freshly spilt blood.

* * *

**6: 47 AM, 30 hours after the first fight.**

Ino was the first one to wake. The _beep beep beep_ of the heart monitor drug her out of her slumber. Squinting against the glare from the unforgiving fluorescent lights, she struggled to sit up. Finally, reaching a somewhat upright position, she looked around.

The hospital room was no different from any others. The white walls, Spartan curtains, unfriendly air, the odor of sickness and antiseptic, it was just like any other hospital. What did catch her eyes was the fact that she didn't have a room alone. There were two other beds. To her right was Naruto. He lay on his bed, apparently unconscious. Though the doctors had apparently removed his mask, they had carefully wrapped some thin gauze around his eyes, no doubt to prevent any accidents. To her left was Sasuke. He was slightly paler than usual, but for the most part, he looked ok.

The door opened and a nurse walked in. Seeing that one of her patients was awake and sitting up, she paused in surprise. Quickly recovering, the middle aged woman bustled about, fussing with Ino's sheets.

"Oh, deary, I'm surprised you're awake so soon. They only brought you in yesterday morning. Are you feeling ok?"

Ino tried to say she was fine, but all that came out of her mouth was a rather pathetic croaking. The nurse tutted and poured a glass of water. When the first drops passed her lips, Ino realized just how thirsty she was. She tried to drink as fast as she could, but she ended up coughing and sputtering. The nurse kindly patted her on the back. Once her airway was cleared, Ino managed to give a small "Thank you."

"You're quite welcome, deary."

"Um… so, what happened?" Ino asked.

"You don't remember? Taking on two S-classed criminals is dangerous work. My my, and you barely look any older than my daughter."

Ino frowned. "I remember the fight, but what happened after that?"

"Oh, one of the ANBU patrols found you. They brought you back here to Konoha. Now, I don't mean to imply that I know everything that's going on, but from what I heard, several of the smaller villages are planning an attack. That message you brought back gave the Hokage a scare, but the Ninja are mobilizing right now."

Ino started to try and get out of bed, but the nurse gently pushed her back down. "None of that now, deary. You're to stay in bed for at least a week. Doctor's orders."

Ino sighed in defeat, sliding down so that she could lie fully on her back. She gave a huge yawn and reached up to rub her eyes. Her hands met gauze. Curiously, she felt it out. It was a thin strip of gauze, more like a bandanna than anything else. It was firmly, but not uncomfortably, tied around the back of her head, covering her eyes.

"W-what's this?" Ino asked.

"Oh, that. Well, the doctors aren't quite sure how it happened, but your eyes are exactly like… Naruto-san's. We'd rather not risk any accidents, so we covered them just like Hokage-sama asked us to."

The nurse bustled about, checking the various machines and running a few diagnostic jutsu on both Sasuke and Naruto, leaving Ino alone to think. She couldn't believe it. Absently, she ran her hands across the gauze. Naruto had told both her and Sasuke all about her eyes. She knew how powerful it was, but, from watching Naruto, she knew how much of a bother they were as well. Silently, she stewed. The more and more she thought about it, the more she found that the change was more of a hazard than a help. Sure, she could knock someone out just by looking at them, or even kill them, but on the other hand, when not in combat, she could inadvertently do that to someone she knew and cared about.

Slowly, her eyelids became heavier and heavier. Eventually, she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

**11:23 PM, 47 hours after the first fight.**

The battle was ferocious. Ninja on both sides clashed, kunai flashed through the air, blood sprayed, and cries of pain and anger tore through the day. The three small villages, Sound, Grass, and Rain, had joined their forces and marched on Konoha, who had, in turn, assembled their troops and marched out to meet the approaching armies. Though the armies were currently several days' travel from each other, the advanced scout teams had met and were now clashing.

With a loud cry, one of the Sound Ninja let off a huge jutsu. The mud dragon tore through the trees, crushing several Konoha ninja when it hit. Responding in turn, a fire dragon was shot back. The blast incinerated a half-dozen of the enemy scouts. For a moment, all was still, each ninja jumping away to hide. When neither side revealed themselves, they both withdrew. The main rule of warfare was 'when the time comes, withdraw so you can fight again'. Barely fifteen minutes after the fights had started, the clearing was silent again, nature itself paying homage to those who had died.

**12:17 PM, 60 hours after the first fight.**

* * *

The Stone advance scouting teams cautiously walked through the desert. Just like their allies had told them, Sand would be completely unaware of their presence. The two dozen scouts were spread out over a half-mile, looking for traps, sentries, scouts, and hiding places. Things of tactical importance. After marching for nearly an entire night, they were tired, but they had a job to do.

Finally, when the mid-day sun became too bright and too hot to continue, they stopped under the dubious shade of a scraggly tree next to a small spring of water. This little rocky outcropping was slightly taller than the dunes around it, giving it the impression that it was an island in the middle of a sea of sand. Carefully, they drank their fill and settled down for a midday nap. They would need their strength if they were to continue their scouting.

In their infinite folly, they didn't assign sentries. That just made it all the easier for the red-haired figure to sneak up on them. Rising from the sand, Sabaku no Gaara eyed the Stone scouts. Early that morning, they had received a message bird from Konoha. It had revealed the incoming invasion. Apparently, Stone had an agreement with Sound and its allies. They would keep Konoha busy while Stone would take on Sand. Fortunately, Konoha's spy network had caught wind of the plan and had sent an urgent message back to Konoha, who had mobilized to stop the invasion of their home. The warning Konoha had sent them had given Sand just enough time to mobilize their own forces and prepare themselves for their own incoming invasion.

Gaara, recently, had done some deep thinking. When his sister had tried to stop him from crushing a small boy who had bumped into him on the streets, his sand had lashed out at her, injuring her. At first Gaara didn't care, until Temari had, despite her injuries, tried to fight off the sand from hurting the terrified little boy. Gaara had, to his shame, tried to kill her as well. From that point on, he wasn't quite sure what happened. All he knew was that he found himself on his back, staring up at the cloudless blue sky over the Sand village.

His sister, who he had thought was weak, had beaten him. Gaara rubbed a half-healed cut that had run right across his tattoo. It had _hurt_. There were other wounds on his body, but none were as severe as 

the one on his head. It had almost cut through the bone. Gaara had come to a frightening conclusion: when fighting to protect someone or something, even the weak can overcome the strong.

No matter how hard he though, no matter how loud the demon inside him had screamed, there was nothing he could do to overcome that conclusion. That was several weeks ago. Even after almost killing him, his sister had cleaned his wounds and stitched up the wound on his forehead. It would leave a scar, and Gaara couldn't help but think that every time he saw his reflection, he would remember.

Kankuro and Temari had been there for him when he was soul-searching. They had talked with him, probably for the first time without fearing instant death. It shamed him. His search wasn't yet done. He still hadn't found himself. But, the one conclusion he had come to was that he would be strong. He would protect his siblings, and by proxy, the village he lived in. Perhaps, he mused, someday they would forgive him for how he was. Until then, he would protect his village with his life.

Giving an evil grin not quite up to par with the ones he used to give, he let his sands drift across the stone outcroppings, gently covering each Stone ninja in a sand cocoon. His 'mother' would still feast on blood, only now it would be the blood of his enemies.

As Gaara walked away from the small spring, he smiled. Perhaps… things would turn out for the better. On that rocky outcropping, two dozen smears of blood were all that was left of Stone's advanced scouting party.

* * *

**3:07 PM, 63 hours after the first fight. **

The Raikage was a vengeful person. He never forgave, and he never forgot. When his brother had been killed by that trice damned Hyuuga, he had demanded retribution. He had received it, and at first he was satisfied… until he realize two things. It was not the Hyuuga Clan Head's head; it was his twin brother's head. Second, the Byakugan had been destroyed by the Caged Bird Seal.

This insult on top of a costly war was too much. At the time, Cloud wasn't strong enough to go to war. So he had waited. He had plotted, and he had prepared. Now, though, his spies had found the perfect opportunity. Sound, Grass, and Rain had joined forces to march on Konoha. The Raikage knew that Konoha would defeat them. They weren't the strongest ninja village for no reason. Also, Stone had marched on Sand. The two war fronts would keep both villages occupied.

Here, though, his spies had reported that Konoha had made a grave error. They had committed almost ninety percent of their forces against the Sound alliance. That left the village almost unguarded. The Raikage grinned evilly. It was a weakness that he was willing to exploit.

Pulling a piece of paper out of his desk drawer, he wrote out a simple message, signed it, and stamped it. Cloud was going to war.

* * *

**5:19 PM, 65 hours after the first fight. **

Naruto, Sasuke, and Ino, amidst the shouted protestations of nearly the entire hospital staff, walked out of the front doors of the building. Why, one may ask, would they do that when ordered to stay there for a week? Because Naruto had heard about the ongoing war.

"Come on, we don't have much time. I've got to finish up your training." He said calmly, ignoring the indignant nurse that was nagging them.

With a chorus of 'hai', they made their way through the streets. The people tensely went about their business. It was war. Things had to keep on moving, but that didn't make them any less scared. The trio paid them no heed, making all haste to Naruto's apartment. Once inside, Ino and Sasuke sad down on the couch, trying to ignore the smell of stale tobacco smoke, as Naruto rummaged around through a pile of scrolls on his desk. Finally, he pulled out two moderately sized ones. Turning back to his students, he gave them a pointed look through his goggles.

"I've been putting giving these scrolls to you off for quite a while. I think, after that last fight, you deserve them. We've got some serious training to do, and we don't have much time." He paused for a moment. Almost as if an idea beat him over the head with a baseball bat, he turned back to his desk and pulled out two rather plain looking necklaces. They were simple leather cords that wrapped around two perfectly cut quartz crystals. Naruto held one crystal in each hand. Ino and Sasuke's breaths hitched for a moment, feeling the chakra spike Naruto gave off.

Blue chakra visibly swirled around his hands as he poured it into the crystals. Slowly, the two crystals began to take on a blue tinge, as if dye was slowly filling them up. Faintly carved seals on the surface of the stones began glowing a brighter blue than the rest of the crystals. For several minutes they did nothing more than watch as Naruto's immense chakra was poured into them.

Finally, it was done. Panting heavily, Naruto collapsed into his desk chair.

"Naruto-kun… what was that all about?" Ino queried, worry apparent in her voice.

"Chakra batteries. You're gonna need them for the training I'm gonna put you through," he said, giving them the best sadistic grin he could muster, despite his fatigue.

"What do you have in mind, sensei?" Sasuke asked, as calm as collected as ever.

"You'll see. You'll see." Naruto said. Standing up, he gave one necklace to each of them. Worriedly, they put them on, waiting to see what happened. Nothing.

Naruto chuckled at their nervous faces. "Come on, we've gotta train."

He walked to the door, pausing when they didn't immediately follow. He gave them a pointed look and a beckon. Ino and Sasuke looked at each other and nodded, walking out the door in front of Naruto. Just before he left his house, the blonde took one of the spare pairs of goggles hanging up by the door, just before closing and locking his apartment.

"Here, Ino. Put these on. They're more comfortable than the gauze."

Ino frowned slightly. Closing her eyes tightly, she pulled off the gauze and put on the goggles. Adjusting the strap slightly, she got them to a perfect fit.

Naruto nodded his approval before jumping away. The other two followed after him shortly after. There were far fewer ninja than usual jumping across the rooftops. Most were out fighting and the rest were patrolling the walls or other parts of the village.

Finally, the training grounds came into view. They landed in the shade of a large tree near the edge of the clearing. Naruto sat with his back to the tree's trunk while the other two sat across from him.

"Go ahead and open your scrolls." He told them, watching apprehensively.

The two cracked open the wax seals and unrolled them. Their eyebrows shot up almost to their hairlines at the techniques revealed there.

It was Sasuke who spoke first. "Sensei, this is too much. I'm honored that you'd take the time to create a jutsu of this scale just for me, but…" he trailed off.

"Sasuke, the Firefight no jutsu is perfect for you. It fits into your fighting style, your elemental affinity, and is exactly what we need for large scale warfare. I've been teaching you how to manipulate elemental chakra just so that I could teach you this technique. It's very similar to my Wind runner no jutsu, which I have yet to use in a large scale battle. Besides, you've earned it." Naruto gave Sasuke something of a proud smile. Sasuke returned it, bowing his head low and giving Naruto sincere thanks.

Ino, on the other hand, found herself clutching at her scroll in shock. "H-h-hi…" she trailed off.

Naruto, breaking the silence, said "Yes, Ino, that is the Hiraishin no jutsu, the same one that gave the Yondaime his nickname and made him the most powerful ninja in his time. Unfortunately, I can't use it. I've got a Wind affinity, which is very strong against Lightning, but the two don't mix. It's almost impossible to have opposing elemental affinities. The two tend to cancel each other out as you try to mold them. I couldn't use it if I tried. You, on the other hand, have a Lightning affinity. It's perfect for you." Ino, in her shock, barely registered the words. Like Sasuke, she thanked Naruto. Unlike Sasuke, she glomped him while doing it.

Once they had recovered, Naruto spoke again. "Now, I know that using normal training methods won't allow you to master these in time to make a difference in the war. So, that's why I gave you these chakra batteries. If you remember, I've already taught the both of you the Kage Bunshin." The two nodded. "Good. Then, you two will read these scrolls. Study them well. When you're ready, use the chakra in the necklaces to make as many Kage Bunshin as possible. Then, have each clone train in your jutsu. Depending on how many you make, we can get several years of training into several days. Though, I should warn you, disperse them in small groups. Otherwise, you may not be able to handle the mental strain. Got it?"

They nodded. "Alright then, get training."

Half an hour later, when they'd rolled up their scrolls, two loud cries of "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" rang through the forest along with a series of pops so numerous and loud that many in the village mistook it for thunder. The training had begun.

* * *

**1:15 AM, three days after the first fight.**

The Sound alliance slowly crept through the forest. Their scouts had reported that Konoha ninja were close, so they were going as stealthily as possible. Uneasily, they moved. It had gone too smoothly so far, despite the advanced warning Konoha had. It had to be a trap. Radios crackled as the message was passed along. _Prepare for ambush._ When things went too smoothly, and ambush was there.

The explosive notes that had been placed earlier went off. Bodies, blood, and mangled limbs flew into the air. With creams of pain, the lives of countless ninja were snuffed out. A hail of kunai and shuriken rained down on the Sound Allied ninja. Blood flew and dripped from wounds. Steel struck against steel as some were deflected. The explosive notes wrapped around the thrown weapons went off, taking small groups out at a time.

In retaliation, the Sound Alliance ninja flashed through hand seals, sending massively destructive ninjutsu back at their attackers. The tops of trees flew through the air along with mangled bodies of Konoha ninja. They crashed to the ground in a flurry of raining gore and wood chips. A line of fireballs flew from the Konoha side, exploding into the Sound lines. The ninja on both sides scattered. Battle lines in Ninja warfare never lasted long.

For a while, it was mostly one on one fights. Hatake Kakashi sent a swirling water dragon at his opponent, making him jump into the air. His Sharingan already tracked his movements, and a quickly thrown kunai pierced the man's heart. The Grass ninja fell to the ground, dead. A hand burst from the soil, dragging the Copy Ninja under. For a minute there was no movement within the small jutsu-made clearing. Then, slowly, Kakashi struggled out from underneath the ground. His kunai was bloody.

Several ninja jumped down to try and ambush him, their kunai whistling through the air. They hit the log Kakashi replaced himself with. The sound of a thousand chirping birds burst through the night as Kakashi drove the Chidori through one's chest. Not letting the jutsu fade, he pulled his arm out of his opponent's torso, dodged an earth spike, weaved through the series of fireballs that came after him, and killed the other ninja there. Four down, many more to go.

His Sharingan found movement. His kunai blocked the incoming slice from the Rain ninja's katana. Kakashi dodged back, avoiding the follow up slice. His thrown kunai did nothing to deter the man's approach. While Kakashi managed to dodge most of the slices, he took a hit on his shoulder. His vest absorbed a large portion, but it was enough to reduce his arm's mobility.

Then, the tip of a sword shot out of the man's mouth. Blood dripped off its tip as the man collapsed, sliding off of the now bloody blade held by none other than Uzuki Yuugao.

"Ah… Uzuki-san. Thanks for that." Kakashi grinned slightly underneath his mask.

Yuugao, in turn, smirked. "No problem, Kakashi. Go on back and get treatment. I'll take over this section."

Kakashi nodded, slid his forehead protector over his eye, and jumped back into the trees. As re raced back to the rear camps where he could get treatment, he thought about the ingenious plan that Asuma had proposed. After the first ambush along the entire line of the Sound army, and the first few jutsu exchanges, most of the ninja would withdraw behind the front lines. There, each ninja would take a small expanse of ground and hold it against attackers, using the people behind him for support. Then, after exactly fifteen minutes of fighting, he (or she) would be relieved by one of the people who had withdrawn. Then, that ninja would head back to the rear lines, get treatment, rest up, and move back to support the main lines. That way, no single ninja would fight too long and their front lines would always be fresh and warmed up. It worked on paper, and so far it was doing ok, but Kakashi couldn't help but wonder how well it would hold up if the enemy attacked en masse.

Seeing one of the large tents with a red cross on it, he went inside and got a rather cute nurse to look at the wound. He was given some small healing, bandaged up, and was told to eat and drink a small amount before resting for the required half an hour before heading back to fight. How that time was actually spent was up to him, though, and personally, Kakashi preferred reading his little orange book to actually napping or anything like that.

Finding a nice little tree to sit in, he started on his book, carefully monitoring his surroundings. Even if he was at the back of the lines, one could never tell when the enemy would strike.

* * *

**7:30 AM, third day of fighting.**

Cloud ninja were amassed at the Lightning/Fire border. Their scouts had reported that the one patrol in the area had been taken care of. Unbidden, the army marched across the invisible border. All of them tensed. This was the first large-scale military movement since they'd been trounced by Konoha eight years ago. They were understandably nervous. But, they were also exited. Though, as befitting of a ninja, none of them made any sound, they were mentally screaming for blood. There would be plenty of it shed, and by the end of the fight, they would stand over the bodies of their enemies. Yes, they were ready. Konoha was distracted, no one knew they were coming, and everything was going according to plan.

"Yugito-san." The Raikage beckoned to the catlike woman a short distance away. "You understand your orders, correct?"

"Hai, Raikage-sama." she replied, kneeling before her superior.

"Good. We've heard rumors that Konoha has a Jinchuuriki as well. Therefore, you'll lead the assault on the village proper. They'll send their weapon after you, and you'll keep him busy while we destroy the village." The Raikage paused, placing a hand on her head. He pull her hair back so that she looked into his eyes. "I don't care if you have to die, you _will_ keep him busy and you will do your best to kill him. Understand?"

"Hai, Raikage-sama."

He let go of her hair, allowing her to lower her eyes. "Good. Remember your place." He turned and walked away with the army. Calling back over his shoulder, along with a lecherous sneer, he said "Report to my tent tonight. I'll need a good _sleep_."

It was all that Nii Yugito could to to keep from crying as she mumbled an affirmative. Such was the life of a Jinchuuriki.

* * *

**At the same time.**

Yamada Takeshi was a low-level Chuunin. He was, mostly, an Admin-nin. He did paperwork, he passed along messages, he did his nine to five, and went home to his girlfriend. But, with the ongoing war, he was called to a more active duty. As required of the Konoha Ninja, he stayed in shape, though his combat skills were dulled since he had passed the Chuunin exams five years ago.

So, anyway, he was on active duty, patrolling with a few other Chuunin along the Fire/Lightning border. He had gone off to wash some of his cloths in a stream, but some had drifted away. So, he ran down the stream to catch up to them. When he finally got back to camp, he found a massacre.

The tents were on fire, the camp fire was scattered all over the clearing, the smoldering embers casting an eerie orange glow on everything. The corpses of his comrades were strewn across the clearing, and in the case of one of them, literally all over the clearing. It was almost enough to make him physically sick. Cautiously, he searched the bodies. There was one ninja, only _one_ that was not a Konoha ninja.

The headband was from a Cloud ninja.

Like all the other ninja in Konoha, he knew about the ongoing war. He wouldn't be out here if it wasn't going on. But he took his duty with pride. Now, though… Cloud was coming. Takeshi wasn't a genius ninja. What he was good at was history. Cloud had attacked them before because they believed Konoha to be weak from the Kyuubi attack. Oh, the demon did a lot of damage, but it didn't completely cripple the village. They were able to hold off and eventually repel their attackers. Now, though, with Konoha being attacked by three smaller villages, their allies being distracted, and most of their ninja already in the fields, the village was an open target.

This startling conclusion jolted him into action. Using a little chakra as possible, he jumped into the trees and took off home. He had to get the message back. He had to warn them! Even… even if it cost him his life.

One he thought he was far enough away, he channeled copious amounts of chakra to his limbs. He shot off through the tree tops and across rivers, running at speeds that ANBU would be hard pressed to keep up with.

He knew his chakra reserves weren't large, but he knew that if he used up as much as possible, he could reach Konoha by mid-day. Maybe he would get the warning back before it was too late. With that thought in mind, he hardened his resolve. He was going to save his village, even if it cost him his life.

As he ran, he put a hand to the necklace he wore. Inside the locket, the picture of his girlfriend smiled happily, blissfully unaware of her boyfriend's situation.

* * *

Well, things are really going to shit for Konoha, aren't they? I've been doing some thinking, and I'll probably end this story in two or three chapters, plus an epilogue. I'll try to make them as exiting as possible, and I'll make it epic as possible. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!

Smal edit here, corrected some mistakes with the elemental crap. Thanks to CelticReaper for pointing it out.


	12. New Notes! Please read!

Important notes!

Following a massive writers block, I began questioning my ability to write. I went back and started reading my fics. I'm disappointed with many of my chapters here in Cell Shift. It's like looking back at the finger paintings you did in Kindergarten, sloppy, crude, and poorly done. Still, I feel quite an emotional attachment to this story, and I'd hate to just delete it. So, I've decided I'm going to begin to revise it. I'm going to go back through and systematically replace all the chapters with new, updated, and more detailed chapters.

I've decided, after a preliminary reading, that the plot will not significantly change. Much will stay the same, but there will be some minor changes here and there. Some more subtle, some not. Most prominently, I'm going to try and fix a few of the plot holes I have… the ones that came close to destroying the universe of my fic by tearing the space-time continuum a new one. In any case, please feel free to look at the new chapters! By the time this is posted, I've already updated chapter 2, so go look at it!

Once I'm done updating the entire story, I'm going to delete these notes and post another set of notes for those of you that want to wait until I'm done renovating before reading the whole fic in its entirety. For those of you that don't want anything to do with this fic, I completely understand. Right now, it's crap. But hopefully, I can make it at least somewhat better. And who knows? Maybe by the time I'm done updating, I'll have broken the 100,000 word mark. That's my eventual goal for this story.

Anyway, I hope to see you guys soon. If you find an updated chapter, please feel free to leave a new review for it. I would appreciate it. Your reviews encourage me greatly, and who knows, maybe this project will help dislodge the writer's block I still have.

Thank you for being there for me so far, and I hope to see you in the future.

The Emerald Ingot.


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